


Starships

by BarracudaHeart, CosmicTanzanite



Series: The Adventures of Lars of the Stars [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Adoption, Adventure & Romance, Drabble Collection, Drama, Gemlings, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Slice of Life, Song Lyrics, mix tape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-22 19:33:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 131,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13173723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarracudaHeart/pseuds/BarracudaHeart, https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicTanzanite/pseuds/CosmicTanzanite
Summary: Space continues to be hectic, but the music is staying strong, and the relationships even stronger.





	1. Mother and Child Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! We've started writing more drabbles as a sequel to Tape Deck. We won't be posting these on a definite schedule, we'll just post them as we write and review them. We hope you enjoy these as much as we are writing them together!
> 
> We do have a warning for this first chapter however: It contains references to past child abuse and past self harm.

_Oh, little darling of mine, I just can't believe it's so_

_Though it seems strange to say, I never been laid so low_

_Such a mysterious way and the course of a lifetime runs_

_Over and over again_

 

It had been pretty relaxing aboard the Off-Colors’ ship for the past few days. Being out and about in space so often always resulted in odd adventures of all sorts that would leave even a band of semi-immortal alien rebels and their truly immortal captain and first mate exhausted. However, other than a brief meteor shower that had been a little difficult to dodge, nothing too stressful had happened. There was a lot of room for down-time, and the crew was taking advantage of that.  
  
Luckily, Mother’s Day just so happened to fall right in the middle of this surprisingly chill period of time. Lars had been skeptical to invite his mom for a visit because of the typical catastrophes they normally faced on board, but during such a good, stress-free week, he had to at least have her over for a few minutes. Steven had been able to take her to the ship through Lion’s mane and promised to return in case of any danger.   
  
She was currently gathered in the galley with him and the other inhabitants of the ship, laughing and talking in one big conversation while Lars’ mixtape played over the speakers. Lars was seated in his captain’s chair as usual, and Ronaldo was sitting to the right of him in his own first mate’s chair. He’d bought it from a thrift store for about five dollars and had Peridot help him bolt it to the floor. It would often somehow unbolt itself and slide around the ship, and sometimes the legs would break off of it, and Ronaldo would find his ass on the floor within a matter of seconds. However, it was nothing a little extra bolts and duct tape wouldn’t fix.

Martha’s company aboard the ship had been nothing less than pleasant. The crew had no issue getting attached to the woman, her sweet exterior and her maternal affection. Not even Lars could act grumpy about it now. He tried to hide his smile when she pinched his cheek or tussled his hair, but it wasn’t easy.

After a nice afternoon of chatter and some lunchtime tea, Steven soon reappeared through the portal, a silent suggestion that he take Martha back.

“Oh!” Lars perked up as he was leaned against Ronaldo. “Before you go, mom,” he said, hopping up and running for his private quarters, “I have something for you.”

Everyone turned their heads to see where the captain went, and Ronaldo craned his neck back to peer over his chair.

Lars quickly scuttled back into the room, cradling a bouquet of flowers in his arm. “Ta-da! Happy Mother’s Day! I grabbed some of these on the jungle planet we visited the other day.”

“Why, Lars!” His mother beamed, hurrying over and hugging the flowers in admiration. “They’re just so lovely!” She scooped her son into a tight hug. “Oh, thank you, honey.”

“Aw,” Lars snorted, returning the hug. His face was almost buried in his mom’s large mass of ginger hair. “Only the best for my mom, right?”

The rest of the crew smiled at the affection their captain showed for his mother, but nobody noticed the slight falter on Ronaldo’s face.

“Anytime you want me to bring people to visit, let me know,” Steven chirped as he took Martha’s hand and smiled. “Soooo who wants to do the honors?”

Lars was about to kneel down to let them step into his hair, but Ronaldo spoke up with a tired smile. “I’ll do it,” he said and sat on his knees, looking at the floor.

“Awww, thank you Ronnie!” Martha said cheerfully, earning a small smile from the first mate. Just before stepping in, she pulled her son into another hug, kissing both of his cheeks. “You stay safe out here, baby. Don’t you go worrying your old ma.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Lars laughed, hugging her back.

“I love you, honey.”

“I love you too, mom.”

Once she’d successfully exited from Ronaldo’s hair portal, the first mate stood up and brushed his knees off.   
  
“Awww, I miss her already,” Blue Zircon’s voice sounded from nearby.   
  
“Me too,” Yellow Zircon piped up, then turned to her captain. “Are you sure she can’t become a member of the Off-Colors, Lars? I mean, she is your “Earth family,” correct? She’d fit right in with us!”   
  
“Yeah,” Lars laughed, “I am. Sometimes I wish she could though.” He brought a hand up to wipe away a tear welling in one of his eyes. “I’m just glad I got to see her today.”   
  
“I hope she can come for a visit again soon!” Rhodonite spoke up from the corner of the room, Padparadscha by her side.   
  
“Awwww, goodbye Lars’ Earth mother!” the Sapphire said a little too late. “It was nice to see you again!”   
  
Lars smiled, still a bit disheartened that his mother had to leave but glad that the rest of his found family was nearby. He made his way over to where the Rutile twins were piloting the ship. “We gotta fuel this baby up within the next few days. How long until the nearest station?”   
  
“Hmmmmm,” one of them spoke, checking the map projected onto the panel in front of them. “There appears to be one here.”   
  
“It will take a few hours to get there,” her twin continued. “We’ve never been to this place before though.”   
  
“It’s a new planet!”   
  
“Should we go or find one we are familiar with?”   
  
The captain tapped his finger against the tip of his chin in thought before making a decision. “I say we should go for it!”   
  
“Okay!” one of the Rutiles replied.   
  
“Roger that!” the other followed up.   
  
“Who is Roger again?”   
  
She shrugged.   
  
Lars had been so caught up in saying goodbye to his mother and talking to the twins that he didn’t see Ronaldo sit down in his chair again. He was looking at the floor with a lost expression, signaling that he hadn’t been paying attention. A smile creeping onto his face, Lars walked over to his partner.   
  
“Ya hear that, Ronnie?” he asked. “We’re going to a new planet! We can explore and look for cool space rocks and all that shit you like to do.”   
  
“Huh?” The first mate was startled from whatever thoughts he was having, looking to Lars with an unreadable expression on his face. “Oh! Neat. Sounds fun.”   
  
Lars frowned, realizing that something was wrong by Ronaldo’s lack of enthusiasm and getting a small inkling of what it was. “Hey, everything alright?” he questioned, putting a hand on his shoulder.   
  
“Yeah,” he replied, sounding a bit nervous. “It’s just...really fucking hot in here for some reason.” Ronaldo began to fan himself, brushing his curls out of his face.

“Maybe it’s because of that big ass coat?” Lars laughed, pointing to the blue pirate jacket his partner loved to wear around the ship. He said it made him feel important, something the captain couldn’t argue with.  
  
“Oh uh...yeah, probably.” The curly-haired boy slipped the coat off, leaving nothing but a loose white tank top to cover his chest. He also reached inside the pocket of his pants and pulled out a hair tie, using it to tie his long rosy curls back into a ponytail. “Ah, much better. Thanks for the suggestion, babe.”

“Mhm!” Lars grinned, planting a kiss right behind Ronaldo’s ear. He settled into his seat, slipping his headphones back onto his head, and reclined back with a relaxed expression.

“Oh, Ronaldo!” Blue Zircon pointed out. “What happened to your shoulders?”

“Hm?” The first mate perked up and glanced down to where his friend was pointing. His sweat ran cold, seeing the unfortunately memorable scars he’d longed to forget, and his voice caught in his throat. “Oh...well...probably when that pillar squished me, right.” He gave a nervous laugh to distract from his lying and began to obsessively scrub his fingers along his jaw, staring ahead at the stars.

“Captain,” one of the Rutiles called out, “can your mother visit us again soon? I liked how she told us stories.”

“And cooked Earth food!” the other added.

“And gave us hugs,” Rhodonite chimed in, blushing gently.

“ _And  made  you  smile,_ ” Fluorite spoke warmly.

“And corrected your manners,” Yellow Zircon snickered.

“Ronaldo, your shoulders are all scarred! What happened?” Padparadscha chirped, almost horrified.

“It’s nothing,” Ronaldo said with a wince. He still didn’t understand why they hadn’t healed when he was resurrected. They were just as visible as the ones he acquired at his death, if not more.

“Maybe the next time we go back to Earth, we can visit her and do all that,” Lars teased, glancing over at them with a wry smile.

“Say, Ronaldo, what about your mother? Was she going to visit for this Earth holiday too?” Blue Zircon asked innocently.

Lars’ smile dropped, and he cautiously glanced over to Ronaldo’s visibly sickened expression. “Umm...Blue, that’s-”  
  
“Yeah!” Yellow Zircon gasped excitedly. “Good point, Blue. Will she be joining us today?”   
  
“Guys-” Lars attempted to stop the conversation before it had a chance to continue but didn’t succeed.   
  
“Ooh, are we going to do even more Mother’s Day stuff?” Rhodonite chimed in, a wide smile spreading across her face.   
  
“We could have more presents!” one of the Rutiles cheered.   
  
“And hugs!” the other followed up.   
  
“ _I’ll  be  right  there!_ ” Fluorite exclaimed as quickly as she could, starting to make her way out of the engine room.

Lars was trying his best not to panic, looking around and racking his brain for the best way to go about this. “Hey, uhhh...we better not-”  
  
He was cut off by something squeezing his hand and looked down to find that Ronaldo had grasped it tightly. The first mate wasn’t looking at him, however, and kept his gaze fixated on the floor beneath him so nobody could read his emotions.   
  
“She’s not coming,” Ronaldo spoke flatly. Lars gulped at the solemness of his voice, running a finger over his hand to calm him down.   
  
The whole crew seemed shocked by this, but Blue was the one to speak up about it. “Well, why not? We just had the time of our lives with Lars’ mom! You deserve to have that too.”   
  
A shaky breath came from Ronaldo. “I guess I do, but...listen, I can’t. She’s not coming. I’m sorry.”   
  
Blue was starting to pick up on the fact that something was seriously wrong. She looked to Yellow with a worried expression, who returned it and gently touched her shoulder. Gulping, the gem patted her partner’s hand and made her way over to where her friend was sitting. The rest of the crew let her, knowing she was particularly close to the captain’s beloved first mate, but kept their distance.   
  
“Ronaldo?” she asked. “Did she...y-you know…” The Zircon hoped he would understand what she was getting at, and he did.   
  
“No,” he choked out, still refusing to look at anyone and clinging to Lars’ hand so tightly that both their knuckles were turning more white than pink. “She’s not dead.”   
  
“Ronnie,” Lars squeaked, “you’re hurting me a little here.”

Ronaldo was silent in response to his remark but loosened his grip a little. He hoped that would be the end of the conversation, but Blue wasn’t giving up.  
  
“Then where is she?” she asked. “Why can’t she come?”   
  
“She’s uh…” The first mate inhaled again, trying to steady himself and stop a breakdown before it started. “She’s in prison.”   
  
There was a moment of silence. Padparadscha opened her mouth to say something, but Rhodonite quickly placed a hand over it. The Sapphire got the message.   
  
It was Blue who finally broke it, placing a comforting hand on the first mate’s shoulder. “Oh...I understand now.”   
  
Ronaldo heaved a sigh of relief and finally looked up at Blue with a half-smile, more than glad that this conversation seemed to be coming to an end. “I’m glad y-”   
  
“We’re just gonna have to get her out of there!”   
  
The first mate’s expression soon dropped to a confused and crestfallen one. “Wh-”   
  
“You heard me!” Blue cheered. “We save gems from that Homeworld prison all the time. We should have no problem getting your mother out of a puny little Earth prison.” She scoffed. “By what Lars told me, those aren’t even _half_ the size of-”

Lars grimaced and was about to stop her but was immediately cut off by Ronaldo suddenly rushing off his chair and to his private quarters.

“Ronaldo, what are you...?” Blue worriedly spoke up and was about to follow him, but Lars held her back. “What’s wrong? Is it a dangerous prison?”

“Blue,” Lars rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a migraine coming on, “his mom isn’t like mine. She’s...not a good person. She’s in prison for a reason.”

“But she’s his mother! She should be-”

“She’s in prison because she _hurt_ Ronaldo.” Lars stared at her, almost angrily.

Blue stiffened up in shock, covering her mouth. “O-oh. I...I didn’t know that-”

Lars sighed. “No, I’m sorry. You had no idea. None of you did. Ron’s kind of a private guy about this. But just for future ref, his mom is a touchy subject for him. So don’t bring it up anymore, okay?”

“Oh...okay,” Blue mumbled, still looking ashamed as she wandered over towards Yellow, who looped a comforting arm around her.

“ _Do  you  think  Ronaldo  will  be  alright?_ ” Fluorite asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah,” Lars sighed. “This day has always been kind of rough for him anyway. I thought it would feel nice to have my mom on the ship here because he got along with her so much, but...I don’t know.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I feel kind of stupid now...anyway, I’m gonna go check on him. Keep the ship running, folks.”

He grabbed some of the leftover care package snacks Martha left behind and carried them to his and Ronaldo’s shared room. He knocked on the door and stepped in, seeing the first mate silently curled on the bed. “Babe?”  
  
As Lars edged closer to their bed, he noticed that Ronaldo was slowly running his hands over his shoulders as he lay there. When he heard his partner’s voice, he didn’t turn around to look at him, but he did perk up a little. But it didn’t last.   
  
“Hey,” he spoke, still not even facing Lars. “Sorry for making a scene back there.”   
  
The captain walked over and sat next to where Ronaldo lay, not sure if he should touch him. “It’s okay, really. Nobody’s upset or angry or anything. I tried to say something, but I couldn’t think of what to say.” He sighed. “I wish I could have, though…”   
  
“No, no, it’s okay. I probably still would have ran away like a fuckin’ idiot.”   
  
Lars was about to reassure him that he wasn’t stupid at all for reacting to trauma in a realistic manner but wasn’t sure how it would blow over. “Uh...I told them about why you did that.”   
  
“Oh.” Ronaldo heaved a sigh.   
  
“But it went well! They understand!” He gave Ronaldo an awkward pat on the back. “Anyway, that’s not why I came in here. Are you uh...gonna be alright?”   
  
“I...I don’t know.” The first mate continued to run his hands over the scars on his shoulders that Blue had pointed out. “Why are they still here…?”   
  
“Uh...what do you mean?” Lars asked.   
  
Sniffling back tears, Ronaldo lifted himself up and sat on the edge of their bed next to Lars so they could converse easier. “Those scars.” He pointed them out.   
  
Lars studied the scars closely, screwing up his face. “The ones you said were from the pillar? Well, the scar on my eye is-”   
  
“No!” Ronaldo paused for a bit, embarrassed to have raised his voice at someone who was only trying to help. “They’re...they’re not from the pillar. I just said that because I didn’t wanna talk about it. They’re from her.”   
  
“O-Oh…” The captain solemnly nodded his head and clenched his fists in a fit of internal rage at whoever would dare hurt Ronaldo like this.   
  
“I thought all that shit would go away after you brought me back to life,” Ronaldo continued, obviously trying not to cry. “Some of my other scars did! Like the one I got from falling off my scooter in high school. And that one from when we fell down that hill while playing astronaut, and I hit my head on that rock. But…” He failed to hold back his tears, one sliding down his cheek. “The ones I couldn’t stand to look at just stayed. It’s like they’re taunting me or something.” A gut-wrenching sob left his throat.   
  
“ _Why the fuck are they still here?_ ”

Lars didn't answer for several long moments. Instead, he climbed onto the bed and sat behind Ronaldo to hug around his middle, keeping his face pressed right against his back. Neither of them said anything for several minutes, just feeling the heaving, struggling breaths.

He finally spoke. “I'm sorry.”

“I-it’s not your fault. I just-”

“I know but...still,” Lars mumbled, stretching his head up to kiss the scars and rest his cheek against Ronaldo's pleasantly warm skin. “...can I show you something?”

“What is it?”

“Well it's...something not good, but...maybe it’ll help you? I don't know. Just...don't flip out on me, okay?”

“Oh...alright.” Ronaldo nodded, sitting back as Lars crawled to the edge of the bed.

Pulling up his sleeve, Lars lifted his left arm to the light, twisting it back so the uppermost underarm was visible. In the light, on a surprisingly large but easily overlooked patch of skin was something that made Ronaldo's head and stomach twist in confusion and then realization: rows of repetitive scars, now faded pink.

“I obviously didn't get these from an explosion.” Lars gave a weak smile.

Ronaldo's voice revived in his throat to a little above a whisper. “Why did you _do_ _that_ to yourself?”

Lars shook his head. “It was a long time ago. Growing up was the pits,” he mumbled. “And I was in a really bad mental place. It made Homeworld look like Funland.” He rolled his sleeve back down. “But yeah, finding out those scars were still there wasn't pleasant either, but...thinking about where I am now….I guess it's a good thing to know I'm better?”  
  
The curly-haired boy was quiet for a while but soon responded by turning around and pulling Lars into a comforting embrace. He choked back a few tears and moved a hand up to stroke the poof of rosy hair on top of the captain’s head, giving his cheek a gentle kiss. Then he moved his hand down to vertically run across Lars’ spine, the two sitting there for a while in silence and holding onto each other as tightly as they could.   
  
After a while, Ronaldo finally spoke, his words wavering with sniffles. “I’m glad you’re better. I just wish I could have been there to help…”   
  
“Hey,” Lars followed up, “I wish I could have been there to help with that too.” He looked down at his partner’s scarred shoulders, blood running cold as he realized just how deep they were.   
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Ronaldo assured him, giving his face another kiss. “We have each other now, right?”   
  
“Yeah.” Lars’ frown turned into a smile, and he returned the favor by placing his lips to his first mate’s cheek as well. “We do.”   
  
Ronaldo grinned warmly, but his mouth soon turned downward again. “You don’t think she’ll find me again...do you?”   
  
“Babe, you’re in space,” the captain reassured him. “And plus, if she ever did, me and a whole crew of alien rebels would beat the shit out of her if she tried to lay a hand on you again.”   
  
A small chuckle left Ronaldo’s throat, and he smiled again. “That’s very comforting, actually. Thank you.”   
  
“Don’t even mention it, Ronnie.”   
  
Overcome with emotions, Ronaldo locked lips with the captain, pulling him closer toward him. The two pink boys kissed for a few seconds, and when they broke for air, Lars snuggled his head up into the space in-between Ronaldo’s face and shoulder. He gave him another small peck on the skin there, sighing. “Feeling any better?”   
  
Ronaldo thought for a moment and nodded his head. “I think so.” He kissed Lars right on the nose and scooted off the bed, taking him by the hand. They both walked out of their room like that, clinging onto each other’s hand as tightly as they could without it hurting.

“You know something?” Ronaldo spoke after a moment. “Your mom really is great.”

“Hm?” Lars perked his head up.

“Even if she’s not my actual mom, she always felt like one more than my own.” He smiled sheepishly.

Lars blushed a little. “Awww, Ronnie. I think she’d be happy to hear that.”

“Next time she visits, hopefully soon, I’ll let her know,” Ronaldo assured him as they entered the galley again.

“O-oh, you’re back!” Blue Zircon piped up, still looking nervous. “I...wish to apologize for-”

Ronaldo cut her off with a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Nothing to be sorry for.” He smiled tiredly and plopped back down in his seat, pulling Lars onto his lap. “Now as we were saying earlier, Lars’ mom is indeed a great mother. Did I ever tell you all about the time she patched up the scrapes I got from jumping off her roof into the rose bushes when I tried to see if humans could fly? That was a doozy.”

Lars grinned in delight as he heard Ronaldo prattle on over the sound of soft music echoing throughout the galley, glad this day was one they could both enjoy after all.

 

_No I would not give no false hope_

_On this strange and mournful day_

_But the mother and child reunion_

_Is only a motion away_   
  
  



	2. Little Boxes

 

_ Little boxes on the hillside _

_ Little boxes made of ticky tacky _

_ Little boxes on the hillside _

_ Little boxes all the same _

  
“-I mean anything could be on that planet to constitute life. Bacteria, organic plants-”

“Monsters,” Rhodonite added worriedly.

“Right, monsters!” Ronaldo nodded, adding it to the list. “But it could also be gem shards or a castaway-”

“Monsters,” she added again.

“Uh...right.” The pink pudgy human glanced at her. “Are you...not looking forward to checking this planet out?”

“Well, it’s an abandoned kindergarten,” she sighed. “And if our ship picked up some source of life on it, that really can’t be a good sign.”

“Well, you guys lived in an abandoned kindergarten for ages and came out of that just fine!” Ronaldo pointed out.

“Yeah,” Lars chimed in from the oven, having decided today was a baking day. He was pulling out a tray of fresh cookies with a spatula in hand. “Don’t worry, Rhodonite. If anyone’s gonna handle any monsters on this planet, it’s gonna be me.”

“Well...if you’re sure,” she sighed.

“Y’know, it could also be a robot,” Ronaldo piped up. The gem fusion immediately yelped in fear and scuttled back to her seat.

“I sure hope not!” she whined.

“Captain, we’ll be landing in a minute,” one of the Rutiles announced.

“Be prepared for any unexpected inhabitants,” the other added.

Lars, who was about to help himself to one of the hot cookies he’d made, groaned. “Oh, alright.” He pocketed a few of them before making his way toward the door, deciding they’d be good to snack on while roaming the kindergarten. “If any of you knuckleheads eat these before me, I’m gonna be angry but not surprised.”   
  
“Riiiight,” Yellow Zircon laughed, voice muffled as if she was chewing something. Lars cocked a brow at her, and she looked from side to side frantically. “I saw Blue take one!”   
  
“Yellow, you’re literally chewing it as you speak,” the other Zircon sighed.   
  
“I am not!” A few cookie crumbs flew from Yellow’s mouth as she spoke, causing her to cover her mouth sheepishly.   
  
Lars rolled his eyes. “Alright, let’s just get the ship fueled and check this place out!”   
  
“Right behind you!” Ronaldo called, almost pushing the captain out of the way as he rushed through the door.    
  
“More like right in front of me,” Lars mumbled, hastily making his way onto the planet’s surface and trying to keep up with his overly excited partner.   
  
The captain had an idea of what to expect when the Rutiles informed him that the planet they’d be landing on was a huge kindergarten. He’d spent days, maybe even weeks, cooped up in one with the Off-Colors while they desperately tried to find an escape route to Earth. His beloved crewmates had spent even more time there than he had. However, somehow this kindergarten was even more foreboding than that one.   
  
Lars could definitely tell it was abandoned. The rock underneath his feet felt more like sand from how worn it was from who knows what. The skies were even greyer than the ones that enclosed the Homeworld kindergarten. It looked like midnight on Earth except without street lights illuminating the boardwalk. And it was cold.  _ Really  _ cold.   
  
“Good thing I put my first mate coat back on,” Ronaldo said with a shiver.   
  
Something about the planet’s atmosphere was making Lars want to turn back, but he knew Ronaldo would want to explore every inch of a planet even if it contained nothing but tin cans. He looked up to the ship, where his crew was looking out the door in confusion and hesitance. “You guys coming?”   
  
“I think I’m gonna sit this one out…” Rhodonite whimpered.   
  
“We need to fuel the ship,” one Rutile commented.    
  
“And keep watch for intruders,” the other followed up.   
  
“ _ I’ll  help  with  keeping  watch, _ ” Fluorite offered.   
  
“We’re here!” Padparadscha warned too late.   
  
Understanding why the majority of the crew wouldn’t feel comfortable wandering around a kindergarten, Lars turned to the Zircons. “You two?”   
  
“I suggest you let us come if you want those cookies to be here when you get back,” Blue scoffed, eyeing Yellow who was sneaking off to where the oven was.    
  
She noticed and stopped in her tracks, chuckling nervously. “I was just gonna uhhh...make sure the oven wasn’t in flames! I swear, you leave that thing on all the time. Talk about a fire hazard!”   
  
“We’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” Lars reassured them, motioning for the two to follow. “Ronaldo and I are just gonna...wait, Ronaldo?”    
  
He looked around, noticing that his first mate wasn’t anywhere to be seen. When he was about to make a snarky comment about it, a familiar scream sounded from a few feet away.    
  
“Ronnie!” he called out, running in the direction of it. The Zircons, automatically concerned as well, followed suit.   


When Lars caught up to him, Ronaldo was standing over a small dimple in the ground, looking like a startled cat. He pointed a shaky finger at it. “The ground just  _ shook _ right there! There’s only one explanation:  _ THE PLANET IS BREAKING APART!!! _ ”

“Oh jeez, Ronnie, that’s-”

_ RUUUUMBLE _

The first mate jumped at least two feet in the air with a high-pitched shriek and ran for his life back to the ship, dragging along the Zircons. He tried to grab Lars as well, but he moved his hand away from Ronaldo’s grasp before he could.

“Oh my god, you big baby!” Lars laughed, almost in tears as he saw them all scurrying out of sight. “That was my stomach!”

“That was no stomach!” Ronaldo yelped grimly as he hopped onboard the ship again, leaving the captain as the only one exploring out on the land. 

“Is the captain really staying out there? What if the ground breaks open?” Rhodonite murmured.

“I don’t think he’s too afraid of that.” Blue rubbed her chin in thought. “He’s kind of reckless, wouldn’t you say?”

“Hey, weren’t there like, seven more cookies on this tray a second ago?” Yellow frowned, then looked up to see that Ronaldo’s cheeks were stuffed.

“...I  _ fear-eat _ , okay?” he snapped in defense, spitting crumbs onto his companions. He planted his face against the window, trying to see if Lars was visible from their hiding place. When he couldn’t even see a glimpse of him, he groaned. “I sure hope Lars gets back in one piece.”   
  
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Yellow said in an attempt to comfort him.    
  
“The ground is spontaneously combusting, and you think it’ll be fine!?” Rhodonite gasped in horror.   
  
“Hmmm...it was just a tremor, correct?” She looked to Ronaldo, who nodded in response with a mouthful of cookies. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide in shock. “You don’t think it could have been…no, this kindergarten’s been abandoned for years.”   
  
Ronaldo swallowed the cookies in his mouth before speaking. “What do you mean?”   
  
“Well...you do know what a kindergarten is, correct?”   
  
The first mate thought for a second. “Is it where baby gems go to learn stuff?”   
  
The Zircon’s face collided with her palm. “No, no, no! It’s where gems are  _ made _ . And when they’re made, they emerge from the ground! See those holes?” She peeked out of the ship and motioned to the hole-filled walls of rock surrounding the planet and its ground. “They were made by gems popping out of this planet’s crust to form.”   
  
“Hmmmm...interesting,” Ronaldo commented, scratching his chin. “But isn’t this supposed to be an abandoned kindergarten?”   
  
“Correct,” Yellow replied. “So the chances of a gem emerging from the crust here are slim. If that’s what it is, then she’s been in there for an awful long time.”   
  
“Is that bad?” he asked, shrinking back a little while thinking of the possible outcomes.    
  
Yellow picked up on his fear and patted his back. “Not in the way you’re thinking of. She wouldn’t be a corrupted or anything. In fact, she’d be even less threatening than a normal gem. She would be uh...really, really small.”   
  
“Oh,” Ronaldo mused, watching Lars again. “Were there any particular types of gems made in this kindergarten?”   
  
“Hmmmmm...well, larger kindergartens like this typically create gems of the upper classes,” she informed him. “She wouldn’t be a Quartz, but she also wouldn’t be a Diamond. I’d say maybe something like...a Hessonite, perhaps? Who knows.”   
  
“Gotcha…” The first mate continued to watch his captain’s actions, less concerned from Yellow’s comforting words but still wanting to make sure he would be okay.

Lars had since crouched down closer to the ground, waiting for the shaking that Ronaldo had claimed happened to repeat itself. He squinted with impatience, and groaned. “This is getting ridiculous,” he whined to himself. “It was probably just some sand shifting under his feet or he’s wearing those  _ stupid heelies _ again-”

He had turned on his heel to go back to the ship when he suddenly felt a sharp tremor underneath his feet. Lars turned around just in time to see a tiny crack in the soil suddenly burst with a bright green flash. He fell on his butt with a yelp, eyes still focused on the ground where a larger hole was now sitting with a plume of dust emerging from it. Once it had cleared and Lars was able to see better, his eyes widened.

“Holy shit.”   
  
Peeking out from the small hole was a very tiny green gem. Although Lars could only see the top half of her, he could tell that she had fluffy green hair, styled into a few spikes and a thick layer of white fur around her neck. She blinked for a few seconds before locking eyes with him, her own growing wide upon realizing she wasn’t alone.    
  
The captain couldn’t look away from the newly formed gem’s stare. He knew he’d seen one like this before, just not nearly as small. After racking his brain for a few minutes, it finally came to him, and he felt as if he would pass out from shock.    
  
“Oh my god, you’re an-”   
  
“LARS!!! DON’T LET IT EAT YOU!!!”   
  
The sound of Ronaldo’s loud voice startled the tiny gem, and she popped back into her hole like a groundhog. Before Lars could stop her or coax her out, the wind was knocked out of him by his partner tackling him to the ground. He winced as his body collided with the soily underground and almost immediately started struggling so the larger boy would let him up.   
  
“What the hell was that!?” he snapped.   
  
“You told me that I could tackle you to the ground on two occasions, and one of them was to save you!” the first mate whined.   
  
“I didn’t need saving!” Lars’ attention immediately went back to the spot where the gem had emerged from. He could see just a tiny tuft of green hair poking out from the hole. “Great, Ron. You scared her.”   
  
“The giant monster that was going to fucking eat your legs off if I didn’t come in to save you?”   
  
“No!” The captain rolled his eyes. “It’s not a monster! It’s a tiny gem about the size of my foot! I think she’s…”    
  
An idea came to his mind. He crouched down to look inside of the hole and spoke to the gem in a quiet and soothing tone. “Hey uhhhh...little Emerald? That’s what you are, right?” 

The tiny pair of eyes blinked, and she slowly inched her head up, peering curiously up at Lars. Much like a kitten, she slowly lifted a tiny clawed hand back out of the hole to stretch herself forward.

Lars grinned in awed encouragement. He felt something fall out of his pocket and mentally cursed, remembering the cookies he’d stowed away. However, seeing the cookie on the ground gave him an idea.    
  
He grabbed it and held it up for the little Emerald to look at. “See this? Here.” He held it down for her to sniff, keeping his voice soft and quiet as he spoke to her. “It’s really good. Eat it! Y’know like...stick it in your mouth?” 

The gemling sniffed the cookie in confusion and like any baby animal, used her mouth to explore it. Finding it actually had a taste and was delicious, she immediately began to nibble the cookie. She grabbed for it with both claws, making small squeaking noises as she did so.

“Lars! Don’t feed that thing! It’s a fucking gremlin!” Ronaldo yelped. Once again, the tiny gem was spooked and darted back into her hole, refusing to look up again.

Lars turned around to face his first mate with a killer glare. “Thanks for the commentary, Spielberg. Get back on the ship.”

Ronaldo muttered out an apology as he slunk away, and Lars tried again to get the newly unearthed gem to come out from her hiding place.

“The loud dumb thing is gone,” he spoke gently to her. “You can come out again!”

A muffled whimpery squeak was the only answer he got. Sighing, Lars reached his hand down to grab her, only to be met with tiny claws and teeth. He yanked his hand back with a gasp and frowned at the scuff marks on his glove. Even if it didn’t hurt, he didn’t know what other methods of defense she had just yet. He’d have to get her out some other way.

He saw the half-eaten cookie on the ground and got another idea. Lars took it and stuck it down the hole, nudging the tiny gem with it. 

“Hey!” he whispered. “You can have the rest of this!”

After a long pause, the tiny Emerald took the cookie in both hands and began to nibble at it with her notably small fangs, greedy mouthfuls filling her tiny cheeks. Lars reached into his pocket, grinning as he did so.

When the tiny gem poked her head out again, the nice pink creature was gone, but in his place were more of the delicious round treats trailing away from the hole. Paying no attention to where they were actually going, she scurried over to each one, eating it. Then another, and another, and another...  


Lars grinned as the tiny gem’s paw-like hands were eventually on the metal ramp of the ship hatch, and she was about to polish off the last cookie. Before she could even look up and see her new environment, he slapped the button of the ship hatch, slamming it shut in an instant.  
  
“Bingo bongo!”   
  
The sound of the door shutting startled the small gem, and she jumped with a high-pitched squeak. She looked to her left and right, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings of the ship. In a sudden panic, the Emerald turned for the door and let out another panicked yelp when she realized it was closed. Frantically and quickly, she started to sprint toward the stairs that led to the engine room.   
  
“H-Hey! Where are you going?” Lars called after her. He followed her as quickly as he could, almost knocking Yellow Zircon over in the process.    
  
When the captain finally reached the engine room, he stopped and looked around for the tiny Emerald. He could only see Fluorite, who was curiously peering into a small hole that led to the inner workings of the ship.   
  
“Hey uhhhh...you wouldn’t have happened to see a tiny little Emerald with a cookie in her hands run through here, would you?” he asked Fluorite.   
  
“ _ Well, _ ” the leisurely gem spoke, “ _ I  was  just  about  to  inform  you  of   one.  She  went  inside  there. _ ” She gestured to the hole in front of her. Immediately after, the sounds of some sort of creature moving about inside the walls rattled Lars’ ears.   
  
Lars crouched, frowning. “Criminy, I might have to bake more of those cookies.”   
  
“ _ Is  she  a  threat? _ ” Fluorite asked cautiously.  
  
The captain stood again and sighed. “Far from it. She literally emerged from the ground about a minute ago. But she’s like...a baby? Which is weird. I didn’t think gems aged like humans.”   
  
“ _ Hmmmmmmm… _ ” The large fusion thought for a few seconds before speaking again. “ _ This  kindergarten  has  been  inactive  for  as  long  as  anyone  on  this  ship  can  remember.  Chances  are  the  Emerald  you  found  was  meant  to  emerge  a  long,  long  time  ago.  Gems  who  stay  in  the  ground  too  long  often  come  out  smaller  than  they  are  meant  to  be. _ ”   
  
“Ohhhhh...makes sense.” Lars hummed sadly, looking back down at the hole. He felt a sudden pang of sympathy for the overcooked Emerald. “You think she’ll be okay with us? I couldn’t just leave her there after seeing what life in the kindergarten was like for you guys.”   
  
“ _ You  were  right  to  bring  her  on  board, _ ” Fluorite reassured him with a proud smile. “ _ Overcooked  gems,  especially  if  they  are  meant  to  be  of  the  upper  class  like  Emeralds,  are  often  deemed  worthless  by  the  Diamonds  and  exiled  or…...worse...… _ ”   
  
A knot formed in Lars’ stomach when he thought of this poor little gem being hurt in any way by Homeworld. Despite only knowing of her existence for a brief moment, he already felt strangely protective of her. It was similar to how he felt about the Off-Colors upon getting to know them, yet also a feeling he hadn’t really experienced before.    
  
“I see,” he finally answered. “In that case, tell me if she comes out. I’ll let the crew know what’s going on.” Fluorite nodded, and he turned to leave before her voice stopped him from doing so.   
  
“ _ Before  you  go,  captain, _ ” she told him, “ _ I  just  wanted  to  tell  you  how  kind  you  are  to  be  doing  this.  It  really  warms  all  of  my  hearts. _ ”   
  
Although her words kind of made him worry about the anatomy of fusions, they mostly warmed him and made him feel proud of himself. “Awww, thanks Fluorite. I guess I just...gotta help all the gems I can since I know how hard it is out here for you guys, ya know?”   
  
“ _ I  know, _ ” she continued, “ _ and  that’s  what  makes  you  the  perfect  captain. _ ”   
  
The happiness swelling in his heart somehow translated to a wider smile and a wink as he made his way up the stairs, the sound of his mixtape just barely drowning out the scratching sounds now coming from inside the walls.

_ There’s a pink one and a green one _

_ And a blue one and a yellow one _

_ And they’re all made out of ticky tacky _

_ And they all look just the same _


	3. One is the Loneliest Number

 

_ One is the loneliest _

_ One is the loneliest _

_ One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do _

 

Emerald had initially thought that the mixtape Captain Lars sent to her was a peace offering. She rejected the sentiment yet accepted the gift. But having listened to every single garbage song on it, she realized he’d sent it to insult her. Every single one was about loneliness, ugliness or just wretchedly catchy tunes she would never get out of her head. She still didn’t know what was new with that pussycat she heard about over and over and over again.

And it wasn’t like being alone as a space pirate was a bad thing. Less people to be betrayed by, like her Citrines. Sure, she found herself talking to her reflection or even the still bound and gagged Aquamarine decorating the front of her ship, but it wasn’t like she was longing for any companions. Friendship was stupid. Wanting friends was stupid.

And how  _ dare _ that idiot space captain insinuate she was lonely when she called him for the fourth time in a week. She was simply monitoring his crew’s activities so she could oh-so-secretly plan to destroy them all in a brilliant fiery display of power! And that meant she had to ask them what they had been up to!   
  
Emerald drummed her fingers against the armrest of her chair while waiting for Lars to pick up. The screen showed the symbol signalling that a call was in process for what felt like ages before a familiar voice sounded over the speakers.    


“Oh hi,” the captain casually answered, surprisingly not turning on his screen to chat with her.

“Human Lars,” she folded her arms, “it’s been three days since I’ve called you last, and it took you forever to pick up this time!”

“How are you?”

“...Well, how chivalrous of you to ask!” She grinned smugly. “I’ve been as glorious and amazing as always, you know, being the most wicked scourge in space and all, but-”

“What’s your name?” he suddenly cut in.

“Er…” She paused, confused at the question, then furrowed her brow with a snarl. “Of course you know my name! I am Emerald, your arch-enemy-”

"Okay let's be real,” Lars suddenly snapped, “the only person who ever calls this ship is Emerald, so you're probably her. And if you made it this far, then yes I deliberately didn't pick up because I’m sick and tired of hearing you scream in my ear about how you want to kill me. So have fun doing whatever it is you do, and STOP CALLING!" After a pause, Lars calmly added, “But if you’re not Emerald, leave a message!”

“ELABORATE VOICEMAIL HOAX IS COMPLETE,” Ronaldo announced like a robot right before the message cut off. 

Emerald ended the transmission with a shriek of rage and glared with seething hate out into the cold lonely stars of space. She lay back in her chair, groaning and dragging her hands down her face dramatically. Looking to her left, she rolled down the window next to her just a crack in order to be heard by the small blue gem tied to the front of her ship.    
  
“I don’t understand, Aqua,” she began to ramble. “That stupid rogue human insults me for being “lonely” or whatever just because all my Citrines betrayed me. And you, of course. But where is he even getting that from? I’m not lonely at all!”   
  
Aquamarine’s words were inaudible thanks to the tape that gagged her and made her unable to speak. However, it sounded rather spiteful, and she raised her eyebrow at Emearld.   
  
“Exactly!” Emerald continued. “Just because I don’t have  _ friends _ ,” she spat the word out like venom, “doesn’t mean I’m in a bad place! In fact, I’m in a better place than I’ve been in ages! There are no other gems around to bump into me on “accident,” make all kinds of noise “talking to each other” and knock things over on the ship because they’re having “fun.” I mean, none of it was ever fun for me, and they didn’t care!”   
  
A groan was heard from the blue gem tied to the ship’s front, and if her hands weren’t tied down, she would have buried her face in them.   
  
“Oh, definitely!” Emerald nodded her head, still pretending to understand Aquamarine. “I don’t see how that pitiful human enjoys so many other gems on his ship. And that...weird pink one who constantly kisses up to him. It’s embarrassing! Friendship is disgusting and a waste of time! So what if I often have to resort to making small talk with a gem tied to the front of my ship who can’t say anything back and occasionally myself? I am perfectly capable of running this ship alone!”  
  
There were a few seconds of silence before loud and muffled laughter erupted from the blue gem at the front of the ship. Emerald let out a small snicker herself.   
  
“It really  _ is _ funny! The concept of wanting someone to talk to and not being comfortable by yourself all the time? Ha!” The green gem laughed again, fangs glistening. “I’m so glad to at least have you here to confide in how pitiful needing the company of others is!”   
  
However, the muffled laughter soon turned into a shrill scream. Confused, Emerald cocked her head to the side.    
  
“Uh...I guess it is so funny that one could scream?” Before she could say any more, a giant meteor rushed past the front of the ship, taking Aquamarine with it and leaving a huge dent in her place. After sitting in shock for a few seconds, Emerald winced and reluctantly craned her neck to the direction it came from, seeing several of the meteors hurling toward her ship at the speed of light.   
  
“Ohhhh  _ shatter me. _ ”

* * *

 

“Oh my stars, she moved! Everyone run!” A voice bounced into Emerald’s head blearily as she regained her senses again. Everything was still dark and foggy, and her head was absolutely throbbing. 

_ What happened? Oh yeah, I was an idiot and tried to hyperspeed through a meteor shower and ended up getting my ship launched straight down onto...whatever this planet is. Great. _

“I didn’t see her move,” another soft voice chirped. “In fact, I predict that she is most sincerely dead!”

“Well, Star, I know for sure she’s alive,” a raspy voice muttered, and Emerald felt a hand nudging her. “Hey? Ya there?”

“HANDS OFF!” Emerald roared, suddenly sitting up and opening her eyes to stare at the strangers examining her. She found herself staring at more than one pair of eyes, all of them looking quite shocked.

“See? She  _ is _ alive!” A large mint green fusion cackled, playfully shoving a tiny blue gem next to her. “Told you so!”

“Well of course I knew,” the small gem murmured, smiling dryly to herself. “I just wanted to keep you in suspense.”

“Well, where did she come from?” A dark gray gem piped up, only for a nearly identical twin of hers to appear from behind her and plop onto the ground.    
  
“Is she another Homeworld drone, Hematite?” the other one asked her twin.

“Looks like it,” a large voice growled from behind Emerald. She twisted around to look up and saw a giant Ruby fusion glowering down at her. “Wait until Bloodstone sees this. She’ll decide what we do with her.”

“D-do with me?” Emerald suddenly found her voice again. “I’m just a defector of Homeworld and-”   


“Likely story!” the dark gray twins both huffed.

“You still have your Diamond insignia!” the mint fusion pointed out with a skeptical look.

“Well, of course! I haven’t changed it since I left!” Emerald laughed awkwardly. “It’s such an afterthought.”

“Is it though?” the small blue gem asked with an ominous voice.

“Look, let me just explain and I-”

“Explain what?” a new voice spoke up.   
  
The gems surrounding her looked to where the voice was coming from and stepped to the side to make way for whoever it belonged to. Soon enough, the source of it was standing directly in front of Emerald, who turned to face her. She was an olive green gem with short and messy red hair. Red freckles were spread across her face, and a red-tinted visor covered her eyes. She was a bit shorter than Emerald and on the stockier side. Her gem, a pointed oval-like dark green one with red flecks, was on her forehead.   
  
The new gem positioned her visor as if she were trying to get a better look at the stranger in front of her. When her eyes finally seemed to focus, a small gasp left her throat. She recoiled a bit in either shock or perhaps embarrassment.    
  
“What is it, Bloodstone?” the mint fusion spoke up, casting a concerned glance at the strange new gem.    
  
“I...I…” She cleared her throat and nervously locked eyes with Emerald, who was slightly shocked to notice that they were red as well. “Uhhhh...are you okay?”   
  
Well, that was the last thing Emerald was expecting her to ask. “Oh...uhhh…” She thought for an answer, ashamed of herself for getting tongue-tied so suddenly. “I...think...so? Why are you asking?”   
  
“I-I just wanted to make sure! I promise!” The red and green gem managed a nervous grin. “You uh...need any help there?” She looked to the side, as if contemplating a movement, and eventually extended a hand to Emerald to help her up.   
  
Before she could take it, loud groans of protest rom the surrounding gems stopped her, and the small blue one gasped in sudden fear. “Bloodstone! This gem is a Homeworld intruder, and she’s going to stab you in the gem if you don’t poof her right now!”   
  
The red and green gem, who Emerald felt stupid for not realizing was the Bloodstone everyone was talking about right away, made a confused noise in response to the other. “W-What-”   
  
“Just kidding! But seriously, are you just gonna stand there and take that chance?”   
  
“N-No! I was just making sure she was okay,” Bloodstone whined, a dark green blush coating her cheeks.   
  
“There is a Homeworld elite crashed right here in our territory!” the mint fusion hissed. “Who gives a flying saucer if she’s okay?”   
  
“I told you, I betrayed Homeworld!” Emerald snapped. “I didn’t have much of a choice come to think of it, but I still did it!”   
  
“Wait…” Bloodstone adjusted her visor again, attention quickly turned back to Emerald. “Y-You did?”   
  
“Yes! I’ve been trying to tell your little friends that ever since I crashed my ship on-” Her eyes suddenly grew wide in shock, and she leapt to her feet, trying not to knock Bloodstone over. “My ship! H-Have any of you seen my ship?”   
  
The fusion snickered. “You mean that heap of junk over there?” She pointed to where Emerald’s ship lay...or the remains of it at least. “Looks more like a pile of scrap metal than a ship now, eh?”

Emerald let out a noise that could only be described as a squeak-sob, nearly ready to crumple over again at the sight of her smoldering ship. Sure, it had been a useless piece of junk when it came to being a rogue soldier of space, but it had been  _ her _ useless piece of junk. And she had so many memories with it. Like all the times she called it a useless piece of junk.

“It kind of like...exploded,” the Ruby fusion informed her, watching it blaze with indifference and making a quiet explosion noise in imitation.

Emerald’s despair only grew more as she realized something terrible: she was stranded. And with gems who had unclear motives with her at that.    


“I DON’T WANT TO DIEEEEEE,” she screeched, sobbing grossly into the ground as she flopped over face first, weeping into the cold, unfriendly dirt.

“I have a vision,” the blue gem suddenly gasped. “You...will die!”

Emerald sobbed harder, and the little gem snickered.

“Star Sapphire, cut that out! She’s upset enough as it is!” Bloodstone scolded, then looked down at the still planked Emerald. “Sorry about her. She’s a Sapphire who likes to misuse her talent. Heh, I don’t know if she can really see into the future at all.”

“Oh, I can,” Star Sapphire spoke up, sounding smug. “I just don’t find it interesting enough to tell you what it really is.”

Emerald sat back up, her eyeliner smudged all over her cheeks and sand in her nostrils. “Please just kill me,” she whined.   


The mint-colored fusion summoned a giant whip-like weapon from the gem on her shoulder. The twin gems silently motioned for her to put it back.   
  
“Hey, now,” Bloodstone laughed awkwardly, patting Emerald’s shoulders, “we’re not gonna kill you! We’re not like that!”   
  
“But Bloodstone,” the Ruby fusion piped up, “what about the time when we-”   
  
“Shhhhhh!” she scolded before speaking to the sobbing green gem in front of her again. “There, there...I know it must be really hard to lose such a nice ship.”   
  
“Bloodstone, her ship looked awful. It was like-”   
  
“Mal, hush!” Bloodstone rolled her eyes. “You’ll have to forgive her. She’s moody.”   
  
The fusion scoffed but said nothing.   
  
Emerald finally looked up at the other gem, locking eyes with her bright red ones. “But what do I do without my ship? What planet am I even on?”   
  
Bloodstone gave her a gentle smile. “Well, for starters, you’re on Earth. And as for the ship, I-”   
  
Emerald shot up again, eyes wider than two flying saucers. “Earth!?! I’m on  _ Earth!?! _ For the love of all that exists in the galaxy, why did it have to be stupid, filthy, disgusting  _ Earth!?! _ ”   
  
“Hey!” Mal snapped. “Watch it, ya so-called rebel.”   
  
“Yeah, what’s wrong with Earth?” one of the Hematite twins spat.   
  
“Yeah! Earth is great,” the other followed up with a snarl.   
  
“We’ve lived here for thousands of years and haven’t run into any issues!” the Ruby fusion continued.    
  
“Until now,” Star Sapphire sighed.   
  
Bloodstone clenched her teeth and turned to her crew again, trying to calm them down. “Hey! Let’s cut her some slack, alright? She’s new to this whole rebellion thing. We all remember how that felt, don’t we?”   
  
The crew exchanged glances for a while before Star Sapphire broke the silence. “We were all excited to get to Earth!”   
  
“Well, none of us crashed our ship!” The visored gem sighed in frustration and flipped back toward Emerald. “They’re not used to strangers.”   
  
“I can tell.”   
  
“Anyway,” she continued, “if you aren’t planning on leaving any time soon, feel free to just stay here with us! Y’know, so you can get back up on your feet if you need it. Don’t worry about being a burden or anything, there’s plenty of room!”    
  
Emerald frowned. It almost sounded as if the Bloodstone was begging her to stay. Although it seemed like she genuinely wanted to help her, the rogue gem wasn’t one to accept help from anyone. It would make her look weak and pitiful, and she refused to be seen as anything of the sort by anyone. She’d much rather make gems help her than to come groverling to their knees, begging for assistance. For example, if she really wanted any help from them, she would much rather make them fix her ship for her since she wasn’t that skilled at doing so and knew it would take multiple gems to do the job.   
  
“And, I mean,” Bloodstone resumed, nervously tapping her thumbs together, “I did serve...some time under Homeworld as a mechanic. I don’t really remember much about their controls, but I’ve been working on fixing all sorts of Earth contraptions. I can’t make any promises, but I could maybe uhhh...take a look at your ship…?”   
  
In fact...that wasn’t such a bad idea. _   
_

Grinning to herself, she stood up, dusting herself off, and offered her hand.

“Glad to make your acquaintances. I’m Emerald.”

 

_ One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do _   
  



	4. You May Be Right

_You may be right_   
_I may be crazy_ _  
But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for_

About two weeks had passed, and the tiny Emerald still refused to leave the inner workings of the Off-Colors’ ship. Lars had become rather preoccupied with trying to coax her out. He’d baked more cookies than he could even count. Luckily, with a crew as large as his, they never went to waste. But the small gem would only come out for them when he or anyone else wasn’t there, leaving nothing but crumbs for him to clean up and the sounds of her scurrying about the ship’s insides that would definitely have kept him up all night if he still needed much sleep.  
  
He was currently baking yet another batch of cookies in hopes of finally succeeding, playing his mixtape in the background to help him focus on baking. However, the sounds of it were muffled by a loud voice nagging at him to do literally anything else.   
  
“Laaaaaaars,” Ronaldo whined, pouting, “you’ve been doing nothing but making those stupid cookies and sitting by that stupid hole waiting for that stupid gem to come out for weeks nooooow.”   
  
“Don’t talk about her like that!” Lars snapped, scooping globs of cookie dough out of a bowl with a big spoon and plopping them down onto a tray. “And someone has to do it! It’s not like I’ve been ignoring you or anything.”   
  
The first mate frowned. “You asked Steven to bring you a lawn chair so you could sit by the hole in the engine room instead of the chair in the galley by mine.”   
  
Lars scrunched up his face, feeling guilty for a moment. “B-But...I just can’t let her wander around the inside of our ship for the rest of her life! And y’know, maybe if someone wasn’t so noisy, she would have been out by now!”   
  
“Well,” Ronaldo spat, “maybe if that someone had another someone to talk to, he wouldn’t be making so much noise!”   
  
“Talking is noise, Ronaldo.”   
  
“Whatever!” He flew his hands up in the air. “I just miss spending time with you. That’s all.” He sighed, putting his elbow on the table and noticing that it seemed to be a bit mushier than he remembered.   
  
“Ronaldo!”   
  
“Ahh!” Lars’ voice startled him, and he positioned himself to a more upward stance. It wasn’t until he noticed the goopy cookie dough dripping from his arm that he realized his elbow had gone right into the captain’s mixing bowl.   
  
“For fuck’s sake,” Lars groaned, “go see how the crew is doing or something.”   
  
Ronaldo was a bit stung by Lars’ dismissiveness but tried his best not to let it get to him. “Okay,” he muttered, dragging his feet as he left his boyfriend to bake cookies and sit by a hole all day.

Sulking back to his seat, Ronaldo grumbled, “I thought his job was to run this ship, not be a babysitter.”

Lars didn’t outright say he heard that, but the glare he gave Ronaldo as he headed back down the stairs to the engine room was enough to burn a hole in the wall.

“ _Don’t  take  it  too  hard_ .” Fluorite tried to offer comfort to Ronaldo as she crawled back towards the stairs. “ _I’m  sure  he’ll  be  back  to  normal  soon._ ”

Blue Zircon leaned against Ronaldo’s chair. “You do have a point, though. He is supposed to be captain of this ship, and two weeks of this surveillance is getting to be a bit much.”

“If he was a gem back on Homeworld, this wouldn’t be tolerated by the higher-ups there,” Yellow Zircon added.

The other crew members nodded in solemn agreement. It was a privilege to be able to do as they pleased as Off Colors wandering through space.  
  
“What do you mean?” Ronaldo asked, thinking that asking a few questions might help him focus on something other than Lars’ dismissiveness.   
  
Yellow scoffed. “He would have been shattered by now if he was a Homeworld ship captain. The Diamonds have large expectations for those, let me tell you.”   
  
The pink human’s eyes lit up. “Whoa! You were the captain of a ship on Homeworld?”   
  
“Oh, stars no!” The yellow gem snickered at the thought. “Blue and I weren’t... _that_ important. Zircons aren’t ever assigned as captains or commanders or anything like that. We might have to pilot a ship every now and then if we’re needed, but Lars’ role wouldn’t be done by a Zircon back on Homeworld. They’re assigned to the more...elite gems.”   
  
“Huh.” Ronaldo nodded his head. “Well...other than the Diamonds, what kind of gems were those?”   
  
“Hmmmmm…” Yellow thought. “Emeralds are a great example. I know you’re familiar with those.”   
  
“And Hessonites,” Blue added.   
  
“Morganites too,” Rhodonite sighed.   
  
“Aquamarines are pretty important,” a Rutile piped up.   
  
“And Agates!” the other followed up.   
  
“ _Don’t  forget  Sapphires,_ ” Fluorite chimed in, glancing at Padparadscha.   
  
“Aw, it’s okay Ronaldo!” she suddenly spoke. “You can talk to us while Lars is looking for the lost overcooked Emerald!”

Ignoring the grating noises coming from inside the walls again, Ronaldo rested his chin on his hand. “So...if you didn't do anything like that, what were your jobs on Homeworld? Lawyers?”

The two gems looked at each other. Blue began, “That was actually one of many jobs we shared together, but it was...probably the one we were both best at.”

“I think you were a better jester than a lawyer,” Yellow teased, making her lover blush a little.

“How many other Zircons were there?”

“Oh hundreds,” Yellow almost laughed. “We were sort of an expendable gem in a way.”

“Remember that White Zircon who nearly bested you in that speech contest?”

“Oh, but did she really stand a chance?”

“I don't know,” Blue laughed. “Her points were pretty convincing.”

“Oh please.”  
  
“Wait,” Ronaldo cut in, “were there other blue and yellow Zircons?”   
  
Blue suddenly stopped laughing at looked to Yellow with a slightly awkward expression. However, the other Zircon just chuckled and continued to speak. “Oh yes, there were thousands of other Zircons just like us! Maybe even millions! Like I said, we weren’t really anything _too_ special on Homeworld.”   
  
Yellow’s words caused Blue’s pleased expression to suddenly fall. “No, we sure weren’t...” she replied, voice wavering a little.

Ronaldo smiled. “That’s cool, actually! What were they like? Did they all act like you? Were they like clones?”  
  
“They all had individual personalities, of course,” Yellow continued. “And unique forms, but a lot of the time you had to squint to notice.” She chuckled again. “We would always get confused for other Zircons. It’s a pretty common problem with us “less important” gems.”   
  
“Yeah, I remember that all too well.” Blue also laughed, but it was obviously fake.   
  
Ronaldo took in the new information before asking his next question. “Huh. Where are they now?”   
  
“Oh, who knows,” Yellow said, shaking her head. “There are way too many to keep track of.”   
  
“They’re probably doing their jobs on Homeworld,” Blue added, the solemn tone of her voice more apparent now. “Just...doing whatever the Diamonds ask them to do.” She sighed, musing with a smile, “You see us literally everywhere.”

“You’re the only two I’ve ever seen,” Ronaldo piped up.

Blue’s smile faded again as a look of realization crept over her face, and her eyes clouded in deep thought and anxiety.  
  
Ronaldo and Yellow definitely picked up that something was amiss. They looked to one another, as if daring the other to speak, but it was Ronaldo who finally did.   
  
“Is something wrong?”   
  
Blue’s eyes shot open suddenly, and she grinned nervously. “Oh! Pffft, no! Of course not! I’m fine just being...here. It’s uh…something else...I mean...it’s nothing!” She adjusted her cravat. “It’s...it’s fine.”   
  
Yellow, still concerned, replied, “It doesn’t sound fine.”   
  
“Uhhhh...listen, I think I’m just really tired,” the panicked Zircon informed them, faking a yawn. “I’ll just um...go to our quarters for a rest. Thanks for the chat!” And with that, she bolted away before either of them could stop her.

“...Do you think she's okay?”

“...I don't know,” Yellow admitted. “She gets like this sometimes, all far-away in the eyes. She won't tell me anything about it.”

“Maybe some other time?” Ronaldo tried to sound hopeful.

“AHAHA! I GOT YOU- OWOWOWOW-” Lars screeched from the engine room. Several second later, he stomped up the stairs, hair a mess, scratches all over his face and hands empty.

“Did you catch the gremlin?” Ronaldo asked, rolling his eyes.

“Shush,” Lars growled, stomping to his private quarters, the door shutting soundly.   
  
Once the captain was gone, Ronaldo sighed in annoyance and turned back to Yellow. “Do you have any idea about what might be bothering her?”   
  
The Zircon narrowed her eyes a bit, as if deeply contemplating rather or not she say something. “Come to think of it...I think so? But I’m still not entirely sure.”   
  
“What is it?” the first mate asked, his eyes wide and curious.   
  
“Well…” Yellow began to pace as she spoke, “I think she feels insecure because, unlike the rest of the Off Colors, her and I were never really given the chance to develop a unique identity. There’s really nothing special about us at all, y’know? We’re just...a regular blue and yellow Zircon, and there are so many gems out there exactly like us. And I don’t really know why it’s disheartening, but sometimes I...I mean, _she_ can’t help but feel...uh...not really...special enough to be a part of this crew…” The Zircon had stopped in her tracks, a frown now present on her mouth.   
  
Ronaldo hesitated for a bit before reaching a hand out to pat Yellow’s shoulder. “Are you sure she’s the one who feels that way?”   
  
Yellow jumped back from the first mate’s touch. “W-What do you mean!? I’m fine! I promise, I’m-”   
  
“Yellow,” he stopped her, “stop trying to hide how you feel from me. It’s okay.”   
  
“I _know_ it is! But still it's just...hard to adjust...hard to change. You understand don't you?”

Ronaldo sighed, thinking about how his first months on the ship where he was prone to constantly annoying Lars. He thought things had changed pretty drastically since then...until these last few weeks. Lars’ patience with everyone was shorter, and he seemed constantly frustrated with Ronaldo.

“...Yeah,” he sighed, watching Lars wordlessly go back downstairs, “I do.”

Yellow watched as well, exhaling deeply after a few seconds. “I guess I’d better go talk to Blue.”  
  
“Wait!” Ronaldo stopped her. “Can I come too?”   
  
The Zircon looked unsure about his proposal for a second. “Ronaldo, really, I appreciate it, but you don’t have to deal with our problems.”   
  
“No, that’s not it,” the human reassured her. “I want to help! You two are my friends. I care about you guys a lot. Can I please try to make a few suggestions?”   
  
Yellow’s features softened, and she nodded. “Okay. If you’re sure.”   
  
“I’m surer than I’ll ever be.” He patted her shoulder again. “Now let’s go talk to Blue about your insecurities!”   
  
“Y-Yeah! Let’s do that!”   
  
The two walked toward the room next to Ronaldo and Lars’ shared quarters, where the Zircons sometimes went for rest. None of the other Off-Colors seemed to be that interested in sleeping or alone time, but for some reason, the two of them wanted quite a bit of it. Perhaps it was a thing that came with being a couple. Of course Ronaldo often found himself wanting some alone time with Lars, but a lot of that was for stuff that gems...didn’t do. Or did they? Ronaldo didn’t want to think about it.   
  
Soon enough, the two found themselves standing in front of the door to the Zircons’ room. “Should I knock?” Ronaldo asked.   
  
Yellow simply rolled her eyes and turned the doorknob, opening it to reveal Blue sitting on their bed and watching the stars pass by their window. She didn’t seem to hear them come in, or if she did, she was ignoring it.

“Blue?” Yellow piped up.

She yelped when she was addressed and tumbled off the bed, landing on the floor in an unceremonious heap.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in!” She tried to laugh it off awkwardly, face flushed with embarrassment.

“Clearly,” Yellow responded with an awkward but gentle smile back, walking over to the bed. “We...just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“O-Of course I am!” She coughed, adjusting her cravat and monocle. “I just needed some time to stargaze! It’s relaxing, yes?”

“Er...yes?” Ronaldo rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at the window. He wasn’t sure how to start this conversation.

“Look, Blue, we...well, I know it’s...been an adjustment here, away from Homeworld and all, but-”

“It’s not that,” Blue sighed, rubbing her nose, looking exhausted. “It’s something way more complicated.”

The other Zircon looked confused. “Oh?”

Blue took a deep breath of preparation before speaking. “You see, what happened back on Homeworld was...pretty groundbreaking. We infuriated the Diamonds on a historical scale. You didn’t even do anything to warrant arrest, and they still imprisoned you. So...what happened to the _rest_ of us?”

“Wh-”

“Think about it. Every time we’ve traveled to Homeworld with this crew, we haven’t seen any other Zircons anywhere. You used to see them all over the colonized planets, doing various jobs, but...there’s none anywhere that we’ve seen.”

Yellow was about to retort until the cogs turned in her head. “What are you getting at…?”

“When Rose Quartz committed treason, all of her kind were put out of commission. Bubbled, imprisoned or shattered.”

“...You don’t think…”

“What if _we’re the last Zircons_ ?”   
A cold and foreboding silence rippled through the air as the two gems looked at one another, Ronaldo standing in the corner awkwardly and trying to process just what they were talking about. After a few more moments, Yellow reluctantly spoke up. “M-Maybe they’re just...all busy every time we wind up in a place they would be? I mean, we mostly go to the prison planet and...they...frequented it all the time to meet with potential clients...oh…”   
  
“See what I mean?” Blue turned to the window again. “I really hope I didn’t doom my entire cut of gem…”   
  
“Hey, look on the bright side! We still don’t know that you did!” Yellow grinned toothily only to be met with a sour glare from Blue. “Just trying to think positively.” She sat down next to her partner. “But I never thought about that. It’s...kinda scary now that I have.”   
  
“Yeah,” the other Zircon agreed. “That’s why I hesitated to tell you.”   
  
Suddenly, Ronaldo’s voice piped up from the distance. “Why don’t we try to find out what happened?”   
  
The two gems whipped around to look at him. “How in the galaxy would we do that?” Yellow squaked in confusion. “No telling where they are!”   
  
“And it might involve us having to get close to the Diamonds!” Blue followed up. “They’d shatter all of us if they had the chance.”   
  
“Hmmmmm...” Ronaldo tapped a finger against his chin. “What about those gems we rescue from the prison? I think the Rutiles said we’ll be going there in a few days to pick some up. We could ask them if they know what happened and kind of just...go from there?”

Blue paused, then gave an affirming nod. “It might not work, but it’s better than nothing.” She frowned and sat back down on the bed, continuing to look at the stars with a determined gleam in her eyes.

Yellow nudged Ronaldo, giving a small smile of relief. “I think we can leave her be for now.” With that, they both walked out of the room, leaving Blue to stare at the stars and trying to ignore the noises coming from inside the walls.

 _Turn out the light_   
_Don't try to save me_   
_You may be wrong for all I know_   
_But you may be right_  



	5. I Feel the Earth Move

_ I just lose control _

_ Down to my very soul _

_ I get hot and cold, all over, all over, all over, all over _

After another two days on course, not much progress in the case of capturing the loose gemling from the walls of the ship had come to pass. Lars had at least given up sitting near the hole and bribing her out with treats, but everyone could tell it was still on his mind. He was having a hard time focusing on directing the crew and was definitely way more irritable. The scratching from the walls didn’t help, for it had grown so loud over the past few weeks that the mixtape was hardly even audible anymore.

And Ronaldo certainly didn’t like it. He’d had it up to his neck with his boyfriend’s absentmindedness and lack of focus on the crew and their relationship. Was a little impish gem hiding in the walls really that important? 

“Lars, the Zircons talked to you about the plan when we reach the prison planet right?”

“What plan? We’re a day away from there. Now isn’t really the time for new plans.”

“This isn’t a ‘new’ plan! We had this idea since early yesterday morning. Yellow was telling you about it while you were puppy-guarding the hole in the engine room.”

“Oh, right. Ugh.” Lars rubbed his forehead. “Not a good multitasker here.”

“You used to be,” Ronaldo answered with some amount of snark.

“And you used to be a lot less of a pill,” Lars spat right back, walking back towards the engine room.

The Rutiles looked at each other knowingly and sighed. Lars and Ronaldo had been at each other’s throats for the last week, quibbling over almost everything, even things that weren’t worth it. Lars’ focus had been on nothing but the fugitive gemling in their ship, and Ronaldo wasn’t too pleased with it at all.

“What’s the big deal about just letting her stay, and hopefully disappear, in the walls?” Ronaldo asked, crossing his arms.

“We’re not letting her disappear! She’s just a baby!” Lars snapped, looking offended at the notion. “And all the ship mechanics are in the walls. If she makes a wrong move, everything could suddenly-”

He was interrupted by the power shutting off around him with a low whirring sound.

“-go wrong.”   
  
Ronaldo sighed loudly and glared daggers in Lars’ general direction, but of course he didn’t see it. “Great! Now she’s going to chew the whole ship in half! Way to go!”   
  
Lars ignored him, trying his best to use the light of the stars they passed to guide him throughout the ship. However, he gave up on that when he felt himself collide with someone much shorter than him. “Ahh! Sorry, Padparadscha.”   
  
“Captain Lars!” the Sapphire called to him. “The tiny Emerald is going to chew a wire in half that causes a power outage on the ship! Prepare your light sources!”   
  
“Thanks,” he sighed. “Ronaldo, give me your phone.”   
  
“Oh, so you only want to talk to me when I’m of use to you? I see how it is.”   
  
“Give me your fuckin’ phone, or I’ll “accidentally” knee you in the oompa loompas like last time.”   
  
“Fine,” the first mate snapped, pulling his phone from his pocket and turning on its flashlight. “Just take it. If you need me, I’ll be in my room.” He pivoted to turn but found himself colliding face-to-face with a tall inhabitant of the ship that appeared to him as nothing but a glowing blue square, almost knocking both of them over.    
  
“Ronaldo!” Blue’s voice gasped. “Sorry. I just er...came to see how close we were to the prison planet, but then the power went out so now I’m here to ask what that’s all about.”   
  
“We were pretty close,” he informed her, “before the jolly green demon knocked all the lights out. Now we’re gonna be stuck like this for who knows how long.”   
  
“Ronaldo!” Lars growled, flipping around and shining the flashlight on the first mate’s face. “If you say one more rude thing about that little gem, I will throw you out of this ship and into the depths of the galaxy.”   
  
“Why?” the first mate retorted. “Why does some little furball gem get special treatment over any other member of the crew, including your first mate slash loving boyfriend?”   
  
“She doesn’t get special treatment!” Lars dragged a hand down his face. “If you were inside the ship’s gears or wherever the hell she is, I’d try to get you out of there too!”   
  
“Can he fit in there?” Blue asked, deeply concerned by the thought for some reason.   
  
“But it’s not me!” Ronaldo raised his voice. “It’s some gem you don’t even know! Lars, she could want all of us dead or something. You don’t know what she’s planning!”   
  
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me? She’s the gem equivalent of a newborn child. She’s harmless! If anything, she’s in danger of getting electrocuted. I can’t just leave her in there.” He turned to go, but his partner’s voice stopped him in his tracks.   
  
“Then I don’t even know why you brought her on the ship in the first place.”   
  
The captain flipped around, shock and rage in his eyes. “Wh-What!?”   
  
“I’m just telling the truth!” Ronaldo continued. “You should’ve just left her there. I don’t know why you didn’t. She doesn’t even like it here or any of us for that matter. It was obviously a mistake, and you’re just too proud to own up to that.”   
  
“Ronaldo, don’t be stupid! She would have died there! Don’t you understand?” Lars gripped the phone in his hand so tightly that the screen could have shattered. “I saved her life.”   
  
“Yeah? Well, I hope you don’t regret it when she grows up and tries to kill you like that other Emerald you know.”

Lars’ voice cracked as he suddenly screamed, “WHAT DO YOU KNOW, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!?” He threw the phone to the ground, breaking it into several pieces.

“My phone!” Ronaldo yelped. “You broke my phone!”

Lars didn't say anything else, but his panicked, stressed breathing was audible through the whole ship. A sob ripped from his throat and he ran from the galley blindly, to his private quarters.

The darkness was silent and uncomfortable for several minutes.

“Oh Captain Lars, Ronaldo,” Padparadscha suddenly whispered, “please don't fight.”   
  
Slowly and awkwardly, Ronaldo bent over to where he’d heard his phone shatter. His hand ran over the several pieces there, and he winced when he felt a bit of glass that had come out of the screen prick his thumb. It didn’t look like there was a big chance of getting it put back together.    
  
“Guess we don’t have a flashlight anymore…” Blue’s nervous voice spoke from behind.    
  
“Yeah...guess not,” the first mate sighed, getting to his knees and dusting them off. “I’ll clean that up later. Blue, can you use your gem to help me get to my chair? I want to sit down for a while.”   
  
The Zircon nodded and took her friend by the arm, using the light of her gem to guide him to his seat. Once he sat down, she silently walked away. Ronaldo looked out at the stars and heaved another deep sigh, thinking about all he’d said to Lars.    
  
Maybe he was just jealous that his partner was spending more time trying to coax a gem he hardly knew out of his ship’s inner workings than with him or any of his crewmates. He’d been combating his massive abandonment issues for a while now, so accepting his jealousy wasn’t anything new or hard. However, a less vocal part of him was almost scared for his partner’s safety on top of that. Of course the gem was small now, but no telling what it would grow into. It could pop out of the wall and eat Lars’ face off one day if it ever got any bigger.    
  
Ronaldo sat his elbow on the chair’s armrest, trying his best to fight back tears that threatened to leave his eyes. He was upset about his phone but more upset about how much he’d angered Lars. When these things happened, the thought of his partner never forgiving him and kicking him out of his life again entered his brain and bugged him until he had a chance to talk to him about it. And this was definitely the worst fight they’d had since the captain had temporarily ended their relationship after finding out he was immortal.    
  
The first mate’s thoughts were interrupted by the loud clatter in the ship’s walls that had been driving him crazy for weeks. He clenched his fists and resisted the urge to yell “shut the fuck up” as loud as he possibly could. Right now, there was still nothing more he wanted than the little menace Emerald’s disappearance or even better, her to not ever have existed in the first place. Then maybe Lars would still want something to do with him, the power would have never gone out, he’d still have a phone and they wouldn’t have had such an awful fight.   
  
“Stupid little shit,” he cursed under his breath.   


“ _ Ronaldo...maybe  you  should  talk  to  Lars _ ,” Fluorite’s voice came out from the dark. “ _ We  can't  operate  the  ship  without  him _ .”

“Well, we can, but we shouldn't,” one of the Rutiles spoke.    
  
“The emergency landing gear Peridot installed for us in this sort of situation can only help if we have a planet we can steer the ship towards,” the other followed up.   
  
“And even then, we just want the ship to regain its power while it’s not in a gravitational pull so we don’t even have to use that emergency gear,” her twin concluded.

“ _ I’m  working  to  fix  the  problem, _ ” Fluorite assured, “ _ but  it’s  hard  to  get  it  done  quickly  without  risking  harm  on  the  little  one. _ ”

“Well that ‘little one’ is the problem!” Ronaldo snapped.

_ “No _ ,” Fluorite retorted with grandmotherly warmth. “ _ The  poor  thing  is  scared.  She  didn’t  mean  for  this  to  happen. _ ”

“Well, what about when she grows up?! She’ll just side with Homeworld or whoever else is against us!”

“I wouldn’t guarantee that,” Rhodonite murmured. “That Emerald was way too small to make it on Homeworld.”

“The minute she reached Homeworld...” Rutile began ominously.

“She wouldn’t stand a chance,” her twin finished.

Ronaldo felt his face burn with embarrassment at his snafu in prediction. “Oh...I guess not.”

“ _ She’s  an  Off  Color  like  us _ ,” Fluorite announced. “ _ It’s  safer  for  her  that  way _ .”

“I have no idea how human babies work...but that little gem is way too overcooked and weak as she is to be any real harm to us,” Yellow Zircon muttered.

“Except for cutting the power,” Blue sighed.

There was scratching and whimpering coming from inside the walls again, and the gems all remained silent as they listened to it.

“ _ The  poor  dear _ ,” Fluorite sighed.

Ronaldo stared at the stars out the window, the only light source at this point. Chewing his knuckle, he felt the familiar twist of guilt in his gut. “I’ll be back,” he muttered, getting up and blindly walking in the direction of his and Lars’ shared room.   
  
Ronaldo ran his hands across the walls of the ship until they found a doorknob. He took in a sharp breath of preparation before turning it, hoping he got the right room. The silhouette of someone sitting on the bed there, facing the window and away from him, confirmed that it was. He gulped, stepping carefully into the room that was just a tiny bit illuminated from the outside blanket of stars, and shut the door.    
  
“Hey, Lars...” he spoke, trying to sound comforting.    
  
Lars said nothing. He didn’t even flinch. He just kept looking out the window, sitting as still as he possibly could.    
  
“Look,” he started, nervously biting into his lip, “I’m really sorry for everything I said back there. I got so caught up with my own selfish needs that I didn’t think about what things might be like for you and the-”   
  
“No,” Lars spoke over him, voice void of feeling. “ _ I’m _ sorry.”    
  
Ronaldo’s heart hurt upon hearing the tone of his partner’s voice. “B-But...I really upset you, and that’s not okay.”   
  
“Maybe it was something I needed to hear,” he answered, sounding like he was ready to cry again.

“L-Lars?”

Lars couldn't stop his eyes from welling up as he choked out, “I can't take it anymore! I'm so fucking sick of fighting with you! I just wanted to-” his voice died away. “Fuck,” he whimpered, clearly crying. “I don't think you're stupid!” He sobbed, rubbing at his face to stop the tears.

“I know,” Ronaldo mumbled, sitting on the bed beside Lars. “You were just-”

“I don't know what to do anymore,” Lars cried against Ronaldo's arm. “I just wanted to be good at taking care of things, but I can't run this ship right. I broke your phone, and I can't even take care of a tiny gem stuck in the walls.”

“I can get a new phone. And don't even worry about the gem right now.”    


“But you-”

“Forget what I said! You're just trying to keep to the Off Colors creed; we stick together.”

“But she's still stuck in the wall.”

“We'll just have to let her come out on her own…” Ronaldo chuckled. “Even if she makes the power go off a couple times.”

Lars gave a wet sniffle, muttering, “Yeah...okay...I just…”

“...what?”

“I just wanted us to take care of her together.”   
  
Ronaldo was silent for a while, processing what he’d just heard Lars say to him. “W-What do you mean by that?”   
  
Lars sat upright slightly but still leaned on his boyfriend’s shoulder, wiping tears away from his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. “I don’t know. I thought it was something both of us could do, y’know? I knew I couldn’t take care of a gem all by myself, and you’re the closest person to me on this ship, so I had the idea in my head that we’d be almost like…no. Never mind. It’s stupid.”   
  
“No it’s not,” Ronaldo urged him to continue. “Go on.”   
  
“Okay, if you’re sure.” The captain sniffled again before speaking, locking eyes with his first mate. “I almost felt like we could be...kind of like her parents.”   
  
There was another silence, and Ronaldo looked surprised at what Lars had suggested. He couldn’t figure out if it was a good surprised or a bad surprised, so he continued to ramble.   
  
“I mean, it wouldn’t be exactly like that of course! She’s a gem, and we’re humans! Well, kind of. But like...you know what I mean. She’s almost like a human kid. She’s just...green and has fangs and some fur, and I don’t know if she can talk at all. But she might learn how in the future! And it would be kind of dehumanizing to think of her as a pet, so it was the only conclusion I could come to. Also, I just thought about how we’d probably never get to actually  _ have _ kids or anything like that, even if we wanted to, because a human kid would just get old and die before us, and that would be really…”    
  
Ronaldo still hadn’t replied and was staring at him with the same shocked expression, causing Lars to hang his head and sigh in defeat. “Don’t worry about that now though. You don’t like her, so it wouldn’t work out. If we get her out of the walls, I’ll just give her to Steven. He’ll know what to do.” The captain fought back tears again. “I’m sorry.”

“Wait-” Ronaldo cut in, swallowing hard. “I-If you really want to do that...we can,” he stuttered, then clarifying, “taking care of her...like that.” He began to play with his hands nervously.

He couldn’t see Lars’ face, but his captain’s tone was hushed and hopeful. “R-Really? You would do that?”

“Yeah. For you.”

A sob bubbled in Lars’ throat. “A-Aw Ronnie, that’s-” he tripped over his words and pulled Ronaldo into a kiss instead. “You’re the best. I’m sorry I’ve been such a-”

“Don’t even mention it,” Ronaldo coughed awkwardly, just trying to close Lars’ lips with more kisses. “It’s behind us now. That’s what matters, right?”

“Right!” Lars’ tone was ten times more cheerful than before, and he kept pulling his first mate into kisses and cuddles, unaware of the dreading panic Ronaldo was trying to repress deep down into his stomach.

Ronaldo couldn’t be any more terrified about the thought of parenthood, or in general, the idea of someone small and helpless, human or not, depending on him. But Lars was happy with the thought that he was just as excited as him, so he’d keep it that way.

“So...it might be a while before the ship gets fixed.” Lars’ tone got low and suggestive as he climbed into Ronaldo’s lap. “Maybe we could...make good use of the dark?”

Almost immediately, Ronaldo’s anxiety died as his stomach fluttered with a whole other emotion, and he felt his face grow warm. “W-Well...that’s not a bad idea at all!” He could feel the tiniest grin grow on his face as Lars reached for his collar to pull him down for another kiss.

After a while, the Off-Colors, who were waiting in the galley for any signs of their captain and his first mate, began to hear loud noises coming from their shared room. It sounded like Ronaldo grunting, Lars cursing and some type of furniture shaking violently.   
  
“Are they fighting again?” Rhodonite asked nervously.    
  
“Sounds like it,” Blue groaned.    
  
“Ugh.” Yellow rolled her eyes in frustration, getting to her feet. “I’m going to go talk some sense into them.”   
  
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rhodonite asked.    
  
“Please, I’ve dealt with the worst clients in the galaxy back on Homeworld. A little fight among close friends is nothing I can’t-”   
  
The Zircon was cut off as the lights suddenly flickered back on in the ship, illuminating every last inch of it like it had been before. Fluorite’s head popped out of the engine room, a smile on her face.   
  
“ _ Found  the  problem, _ ” she announced. “ _ We  should  be  fine  now. _ ”   
  
“Just in time!” one of the Rutiles exclaimed.   
  
“We’re right about to land,” the other followed.   
  
Yellow flashed Blue a pleased smile before continuing to walk toward the captain and his first mate’s shared quarters. However, right before she reached the door, they walked out holding one another’s hand and both smiling more than she’d seen them smile in weeks. Lars’ hair looked as if someone had been tugging on it for the last hour, and Ronaldo’s glasses were about to fall off his face.   
  
“Oh!” she gasped. “Captain! Ronaldo! Are you two okay?”   
  
“Better than ever,” Lars sighed happily in response, nuzzling Ronaldo’s shoulder as they stood together. Ronaldo winked at her, wanting her to get something she didn’t understand.   
  
“Alright then!” The confused Zircon walked back into the galley, Ronaldo and Lars following suit. Once they were there, Lars walked over to the Rutiles to check their progress.    
  
“How far are we to the prison?” he asked.    
  
“Don’t worry, Yellow Zircon!” Padparadscha’s voice suddenly chimed in from behind him, startling Lars. “Everything’s fine! They’re not fighting; they’re just-”   
  
“We just landed!” the Rutiles cheered in unison, cutting Padparadscha off before she could inform the crew of what was really going on.

 

_ I feel the earth move under my feet _

_ I feel the sky tumbling down _

_ I feel my heart start trembling _

_ Whenever you're around _


	6. Little Lies

_ Although I'm not making plans _

_ I hope that you understand _

_ There's a reason why _

_ Close your, close your, close your eyes _

 

“So let me get this straight,” Mal asked, “you want us to help you fix your ship?”   
  
“Yep!” Emerald exclaimed cheerfully, clapping her hands together. “It shouldn’t be that hard with the uh…” She frowned, trying to count the number of gems present in her head. “Seven...no, wait...twelve! Uh...actually-”   
  
“Ugh!” Mal interrupted, pointing a finger at Emerald. “What makes you think we’re gonna fix your ship just like that? We’re not your Pearls, you crusty old-”   
  
“Mal,” Bloodstone hissed, suddenly appearing from behind the fusion. The supposed captain of this crew had led Emerald to their quarters, a rather large cave that made everyone’s voices echo. Water dripped from the craggy ceiling and walls of gritty brown stone surrounded them. Emerald had sat down on a nearby ledge while the other gems scattered around the structure.    
  
“Sorry,” the teal fusion muttered under her breath. “I should let you tell her.”   
  
“That you should,” Bloodstone sighed, narrowing her eyes at Mal before turning to Emerald with a warm smile. “Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, we’d be more than happy to help fix your ship!”   
  
“For the love of the stars!” Mal cursed under her breath, hand colliding with her face. “You offered this to her!?”   
  
“Um, yeah?” Bloodstone opened the ship's upper hatch to take a look at the inside of it. “I’m a Bloodstone, Mal. I was made to do this! And besides, we’ve fixed all kinds of human stuff! Why is this any different?”   
  
“I don’t know! Maybe because it’s for someone who could get us shattered?”   
  
Bloodstone rolled her eyes and turned back to Emerald. “Don’t listen to her. We know how much this ship means to you, and we’re more than happy to help you fix it!”   
  
The green gem couldn’t help but snicker. Her little plan was coming together so nicely!    
  
“Do Emeralds have mind control abilities?” one Hematite whispered to her twin. “Bloodstone is hardly ever this trusting!”

“Maybe she's planning to lure her in, then interrogate her for real,” the other whispered back as they watched with discreet suspicion.

Bloodstone rubbed a bit of sweat off her brow as she closed the hatch and dusted some charcoal off her hands. “Well, your fuel tanks are beyond saving, and you'll more than likely need new nova thrusters. I’m not sure if we have the supplies to repair it.”

Emerald looked visibly deflated at the news. “Oh.”

The other gem then beamed. “That just means we'll have to find them!”  
  
“Wait, wait, wait,” Mal groaned, walking over to Bloodstone again and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Listen, Bloodstone. I really do trust your leadership, but don’t you think there should be....ehhh, I don’t know, something in it for us?”   
  
“What do you mean?” Bloodstone turned to look up at the tall fusion.   
  
Mal took a deep breath to calm herself. “You can’t really just fix her ship and not expect anything in return, can you? You’ve never let anyone off the hook this easily! I’m not gonna let you sell yourself out to this Diamond-loving cretin like that.”   
  
“Hey!” Emerald snapped, not appreciating the nickname. She glanced to Bloodstone with large pleading eyes, hoping she could manipulate the outcome of what the mechanic gem decided.   
  
“Hmmmm…” Bloodstone tapped a finger against her chin. “I don’t know…”   
  
“Come on, Bloodstone!” the fusion spoke again, getting even more frustrated. “Why help someone out if they wouldn’t do the same for you?”   
  
Oh wow, she was good at this. Emerald scowled.    
  
“I guess a little bargaining wouldn’t hurt…” Bloodstone turned to Emerald. “Would that be alright with you?”   
  
“No! I refuse to…” The green gem’s voice caught in her throat when she noticed how Mal was glaring at her, as well as how easy it would be for her to snap her in half with one try. “I mean uh...sure! Why not! As long as it’s nothing too humiliating on my part.”

Bloodstone rubbed her chin and thought, then motioned for her companions to join her in a group huddle, telling Emerald to wait for a moment as they conversed. The stranded gem inched her head over to hopefully get a listen in on what they were saying, but all she could hear was disagreeable whispers that soon seemed to come to a conclusion. 

Bloodstone turned to her again with a smile on her face. “Alright Emerald! We’ve reached a deal. We’ll help you fix your ship-”   


“Chop chop then!” Emerald clapped her hands demandingly.

“ _ If _ ,” Bloodstone began, “once the ship is complete, you take us all to space.”

“What?!” Emerald’s jaw nearly dropped.

“That’s a fair trade, wouldn’t you think?” Mal crossed her arms, looking quite smug.

“But what would rebels like you want to do in the likes of space?!”

“Whatever it is rebel space gems do,” Ruby boomed from where she stood.

“And, well,” Bloodstone looked a little self conscious, “it’s been a long time since I was there. I’d kinda like to catch up on everything I missed.”

“It literally never changes. You haven’t missed a thing. Also, if you’re a traitor, then why do you even care?” Emerald scoffed at her, causing the other gem’s expression to falter slightly.   
  
“I don’t really know,” she admitted. “I hate Homeworld, and I’d rather be shattered than have to go back to the Diamonds, but I never really had it in me to hate space…”   
  
“She goes on and on about the stars and the moons and the planets every night,” Mal cut in, patting Bloodstone on the back. “I don’t really understand the fascination myself, but it means a lot to her, and I’d go up against the Diamonds myself if it means making my pal here happy.”

“Ooh yeah! That sounds exciting! We want to give the Diamonds a nice kick in the-”, one of the Hematites started, only for her twin to cover her mouth, and correct her.   
  
“We want nothing of the sort to do with Homeworld.”

“Well, that’s great because neither do I!” Emerald snapped. “And thanks to some wretched mutated human’s fault, I had no choice in defecting.”

“There are humans in space?!” Ruby gasped.

“Of course there are humans in space. Remember that moon landing we saw years and years ago on that old television set we found?” Mal snickered.   
  
“I thought that was fake,” one of the Hematites commented, causing her twin to roll her eyes.

“I miss that television set,” Star Sapphire sighed. “Game shows were fun to mess with.”

“What’s a television set?” Emerald huffed.

“We can show you everything we know about Earth while we help you out,” Bloodstone assured.

“You mean, you actually live among...humans?” 

“Oh goodness no! We just observe them from time to time, and we’ve gotten used to snatching some of their junk.”’

“I once stole food from a human. Have you tasted food?” one Hematite spoke up.

“And what kind of food?” her twin asked Emerald, both getting in her personal space.

“I haven’t done anything of the sort!” Emerald gagged, pushing the two grey gems away. “The only humans I’ve ever spoken to are the worst kind of creatures you’d ever have to meet! And it’s their fault I’ve gone on the run!”

“You don’t say?” Bloodstone tilted her head. “What happened?”

“Who is this awful human?” Mal crossed her arms.

“The most evil, putrid, vile creature you’d ever meet. Lars Of The Stars Barriga. He can disgust you just by looking at his hideous pink fleshy face.”

“Does it crack gems who dare look at it?” Star Sapphire asked, genuinely worried.

“Draw a picture,” a Hematite insisted, wanting to see Emerald’s gem tech on her suit in action.

Emerald paused, then lied with an aghast expression as she quickly scribbled out a drawing. “Yes. He shattered two of my guards just with a whiff of his rancid human breath.”

She then showed a shoddy drawing of her rival with very evil eyes and teeth and an even shoddier drawing of his equally horrible first mate, complete with seven eyes and squiggly lines to demonstrate how bad they smelled. The gems stared blankly at the drawing, until Emerald added hastily, “This image is accurate.”

They all gasped, looking astonished.

“This human seems horrible!” gasped one of the Hematites.   
  
“They look disgusting!” the other gagged.   
  
“Wait, what’s that?” Ruby pointed to the drawing of Lars’ first mate.   
  
“Uhhh…” Emerald thought. “It’s like...this thing that follows him around? Walks on two legs? Obnoxiously loud? Really hairy?”   
  
“A chimpanzee?” Bloodstone asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.   
  
“....Yes! That’s it!”

“And is he the reason your ship crashed into those meteors?” Mal chimed in.

“Yes! Every misfortune I’ve come across is because of this wicked animal! I cannot rest until his horrible existence is wiped off the star maps!”   
  
“Awww, Emerald,” Bloodstone comforted her, reluctantly reaching a hand out to pat her shoulder. “We’ll help you catch that no-good human once we’re all in space with you! Won’t we, gang?”   
  
“I wouldn’t mind going after an evil human,” Ruby mused.   
  
“I wanna bash his skull in!” one of the Hematites laughed.   
  
“Me too!” her twin followed up.   
  
“I guess it would be pretty fun,” Star Sapphire chuckled.   
  
The only gem who hadn’t agreed yet was Mal, who was looking away with an unreadable expression on her face that signaled she might have changed her mind about being so willing to go into space. Noticing this, Bloodstone walked over to her and gently placed a hand on the fusion’s shoulder. She turned toward her awkwardly, and the two locked eyes for a moment, as if the mechanic gem was silently begging her to say yes. Finally, a small laugh left her throat, and a sly grin spread across her face.   
  
“Who would I be if I said no to a fight?” 

Bloodstone was visibly excited to hear this, her smile widening. “I know you too well!” She gave the fusion’s arm a playful slug.

“We’ll put his ugly mug up on your mantle when we’re through with him,” Mal snickered.   
  
Emerald laughed softly and flashed the surrounding gems a smile that was as genuine as she could possibly muster. “Thank you all so much for this. It really does mean a lot to me.”   
  
“Don’t even mention it!” Bloodstone announced, roughly patting her back and startling her slightly. “Now, crew, let’s get to work on that ship so we can go to space and fight the ugly pink human and his dreaded chimpanzee!”   
  
The other gems cheered for their captain, giving one another looks of excitement. Emerald glanced away, her lips curling into a smirk, and chuckled very quietly.

_ Perhaps I shouldn’t have gotten them so excited, _ she thought to herself, hardly guilty.  _ The only one getting off this wretched planet is me. _

 

_ Tell me lies _

_ Tell me sweet little lies _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've been discussing voice headcanons for Bloodstone as we write her, and we've both sort of imagined Ellie Kemper (Erin Hannon on The Office, and Kimmy on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as her voice.


	7. Moonshadow

_ And if I ever lose my hands, lose my plough, lose my land, _

_ Oh if I ever lose my hands, Oh if I won't have to work no more. _

 

When the Off-Colors landed on the prison planet, they took a count on who would stay behind to guard the ship and who would go into the prison to collect the gems. Normally, they changed positions out every once in a while, save for Fluorite who always stayed in the ship since she wasn’t good at sneaking around. But Lars and Ronaldo always went together to rescue the gems. However, this time, the captain was having second thoughts.    
  
“Are you sure you don’t want to go, captain?” asked Rhodonite, who had agreed before today that her and Padparadscha would go out this time. “You’ve always gone on these.”   
  
“We’re here!” Padparadscha chirped, startling the fusion.   
  
Lars frowned, looking toward a spot in the wall where the faint sound of claws dragging against metal was coming from. “I just don’t want her to pop out while I’m not here.”   
  
“Judging by how she’s stayed in there for weeks without any sign of ever coming out, I feel like the chances of that are rather slim,” Yellow remarked.   
  
“I still don’t want to risk anything,” he sighed, looking to Ronaldo with a guilty expression. “You wouldn’t mind leading them this time, would you?”   
  
The first mate’s conversation with Lars had quenched his frustration with his boyfriend’s fixation on the tiny Emerald in the walls, including what he’d said about wanting him to help raise her when she was out. However, he wasn’t entirely sure if he felt up to leading a mission. He thought he would be excited if this moment ever came, but all he felt right now was a nervous dread bubbling up in his stomach. But he couldn’t let Lars down.   
  
“I don’t mind at all,” he said with a nod, looking to the Zircons. “They want to come with me to look for signs of any other Zircons. So will it just be the three of us?”   
  
“Uh, no,” Rhodonite’s shaky voice answered from a few steps behind him. “We’re going too.” She gestured to Padparadscha.    
  
Ronaldo took a deep breath. He loved the fact that his crewmates wanted to spend time with him and devote their lives to saving gems in need, but more of them coming on his first mission heightened his fear of blowing it.    
  
“Okay,” he sighed, trying to appear confident. “Let’s do this.” He motioned for the surrounding gems to follow him out the door and turned back to Lars before he left. “You sure about this?”   
  
“Ronnie,” Lars said with a warm smile, “you’ve more than earned this. I know you’ll do great.”   
  
For a second, Ronaldo’s nervous frown was replaced with a flushed grin. “I won’t let you down, captain,” he jested with a wink. “Now, onward, my beloved crew!”

Lars, the Rutiles and Fluorite all waved them off as they hurried out, and the gems looked to their captain.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” one of the Rutiles asked.

“I think they’ll be just fine.” Lars smiled, even as he heard the not-so-sweet noise of a tiny gem causing destruction to precious tiny wires in the ship.

“Do you think  _ we’ll _ be okay?” the other Rutile asked, looking to the walls with slight dread.

“Oh, we’ll be peachy,” Lars assured, a determined look in his eye. “Now can one of you ladies fetch me an axe?”

* * *

“So...this is just going to be a normal rescue mission….like we always do, right?” Rhodonite rubbed at her arm anxiously. “No detours?”

“...right,” Blue smiled through gritted teeth. “No detours.”

“Except maybe just a tiny one,” Yellow piped up.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing huge, just...some looking into if we have any of our fellow Zircons in this prison.”

“W-well they could be anywhere! We can’t just go blindly searching for them!” Rhodonite insisted, already looking flustered.

“And we’re not going to. We’re going to get some questions answered if we have to,” Ronaldo assured. He then put a finger to his lips and motioned for them all to be quiet as they approached the prison. The first mate crept up behind a wall, trying to make sure the coast was clear.

“Be quiet, everyone!” Padparadscha warned as he craned his neck around the corner to see a Sodalite guard. “We’re approaching the prison!”

Everyone hushed her gently and kept deathly quiet and still as they waited for the guard to routinely patrol in the opposite direction.

“Alright,” Ronaldo whispered, “they might be on high alert, so I think it’s the perfect time to try out my portal powers.”

“Th-the ones involving you screaming?” Rhodonite gulped, already imagining every possible way this would go wrong if they were heard.

“I sneeze portals on the daily. It’s not like screaming one will be much harder!” he chirped. Ronaldo nodded at everyone to ready themselves as he took in a deep breath of air and screamed as loud as he could. 

He was visibly confused when no portal came out of his mouth, unaware of the horror on his comrades’ faces that he basically just yelled loud enough to be heard by any guards.

“Why isn’t it working?!” Rhodonite yelped, already starting to freak out.

“Oh goody, Ronaldo is going to try and create a portal for us!” Padparadscha announced, clapping her hands together.   
  
“Okay uhhhh…” Ronaldo looked around frantically, seeing nothing but the Sodalite guards finally locking eyes with him and realizing where the scream had come from. “Uhhhhh to the warp pad! Go, go, go!”   
  
The four gems and pink human made a mad dash for the warp pad a few feet ahead of them. After a while, Rhodonite picked up Padparadscha and carried her on her shoulders as they scrambled for their escape route.   
  
“Be careful!” the Sapphire warned. “The Sodalites are about to discover us!”   
  
Thankfully, they made it just in time, and Blue frantically pushed the button that would warp them into the facility. They knew the Sodalite guards would be hot on their trail, and that acting quickly would be in their best interest. After a few seconds of floating through the warp, they found themselves inside the prison.   
  
“I thought you said you could scream portals!” Blue shrieked. “What in the galaxy was that!?”   
  
Ronaldo’s chest was tight with fear and shame. Why hadn’t he been able to summon a portal with his scream like Lars did? He’d managed to make a few on accident before! But then again, those were very small and definitely not big enough for him and the gems that accompanied him. Possibly not even him.   
  
“I should be able to,” he snarled under his breath. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But let’s just get this over with!”   
  
“What about looking for the other Zircons?” Blue asked.    
  
“I don’t know if we have time for that.”   
  
“What!? But, Ronaldo, you promised us-”   
  
“Shhhhhh!” Rhodonite hushed them. “We need to keep quiet! No telling where those Sodalites are now, and even if they didn’t follow us, they’re probably on high alert!”   
  
“The warp pad!” Padparadscha exclaimed a little too late and a little too loudly. “What a wonderful idea!”

“Ronaldo, we have to at least try to find out something!”

“Blue, not now!”

Frustrated, she shook her fists. “First you get us on high alert by screaming your lungs off, then you won’t even try to accomplish what we were supposed to!”

“We’re rescuing gems, Blue! That’s what we’re supposed to be doing,” Ronaldo huffed, rubbing his forehead.

“Wait, what did you think we were doing?” Rhodonite asked Blue, confused.

Blue looked helplessly at her, then at Yellow Zircon. “You! You want to get this sorted out, don’t you?”

Yellow looked to the side, indecisive. “I do...but I don’t know if we have time now…”

“...I can’t believe it!” Blue gripped at her hair in frustration. “Fine! If you don’t want to find out what happened to the other Zircons, then I’ll do it myself!” Blue immediately ran past them and down a corridor.

“Wait, Blue!” Yellow called out for her. “Come back!”

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me,” Ronaldo cursed under his breath, motioning for Rhodonite and Padparadscha to follow him as he dashed after Blue with Yellow running a few steps in front of him.   
  
They followed Blue in and out of several rooms containing bubbled prisoners, almost stopping to free them each time before they realized how far the runaway Zircon was getting. When they reached the final row of rooms in the hallway she’d run down, they located her holding a bubbled gem in her hand with a wide yet exhausted grin spread across her face. It was an circular olive green gem that seemed to glisten in the light.    
  
“Blue, don’t-” Ronaldo attempted to call out to her, but it was no use. Before he could finish, she’d already popped the bubble, and the gem was reforming right in front of them.   
  
“Oh dear,” Rhodonite whimpered, protectively putting her arms around Padparadscha.    
  
“Blue Zircon, come back!” she called out, late as always. “We have to unbubble all those gems!”   
  
The gem reformed into a Pearl with short flowy hair that spiked up in the back like a leaf. She fell sitting down and looked around for awhile, mouth gaping open as she took in her surroundings. “Wh-”   
  
“Ah, an Olivine Pearl!” Blue spoke before the new gem could. “Perfect.”   
  
The Olivine Pearl blinked, cocking her head to the side as she checked out the gem who had freed her. “Who are you?”   
  
“That’s...not important,” the Zircon laughed before pointing a finger at the Pearl’s nose and raising her voice to a strict tone. “Now tell me what you know about the remaining Zircons on Homeworld this instant!”   
  
“Blue!” Ronaldo gasped, running over to the Pearl and helping her up. “You’re gonna scare her!” He turned to the green gem. “I’m so sorry about her. She’s just a little stressed because-”   
  
“Oh my stars!” the Olivine Pearl exclaimed, suddenly pushing Ronaldo away. “What in the name of the Diamonds are you doing here, you rebel scum!?”

“Oh great, a patriot,” grumbled Yellow to Ronaldo under her breath.

“There shouldn’t be any Zircons in this prison!”  the Pearl insisted. “Unless…” she gasped, looking horrified and infuriated. “It’s you. The awful treacherous ones who started this all;  _ Moon _ and  _ Star _ .”

“What?” Blue stared at the Pearl incredulously. “But that’s not-”

“I could recognize you from anywhere!” the enraged gem screeched. “Because of what you said during Rose Quartz’s trial and you two escaping your punishment here and becoming fugitives, all Zircons are in trouble! I’m here because I was on good relations with one of them! You’ve infuriated the Diamonds! You’ve defaced the good name of Homeworld!”

“But what have they  _ done _ to them?” Blue asked, still confused and wanting answers.

The Pearl, already in hysterics, threw her head back and laughed. “Oh wouldn’t  _ you _ like to know, you reckless pebble?! They’re all in custody of the Diamonds, awaiting their own trials! But who’s going to defend them now?! You’re all doomed! And you deserve it!” she screamed, grabbing at Blue and trying to wring her neck.

“Please, calm down!” Ronaldo tried to break up the skirmish. “We can get this all sorted out in the ship! We’re here to rescue you from-”

“YOU DESERVE IT!!!” the Pearl repeated, stopping to punch Ronaldo’s arm before going back to Blue.   
  
“Ow!” he yelped. “What the hell was that?! I’m not even a-”

Ronaldo was interrupted by the sound of Sodalite guards shouting to each other, hurrying to find the commotion.

“I found Moon and Star! Get them!!!” the Pearl laughed hysterically, “GET THEM!!!!”

“Miss, please, we-”

“Ronaldo, she obviously doesn’t want to be rescued!” Rhodonite spoke quickly, “Let’s just get out of here!”

“COME BACK HERE AND FACE YOUR CONSEQUENCES!!!” the Pearl screamed at the fleeing gems, her hateful face etched into Blue’s mind as the Zircon fled wordlessly.   
  
The gems and Ronaldo rushed back to the warp pad, not even looking behind to see if they were being followed by any guards. Nobody said a word as they fled. When they all finally reached it, Rhodonite hastily pushed the button just as Sodalites had noticed their presence.    
  
Ronaldo had his eyes shut tight as they plummeted through the warp, hoping they wouldn’t open to find it surrounded by more guards as it had been so many times before when they used this escape route. Luckily, that wasn’t the case, but they weren’t far behind.    
  
“Don’t unbubble that Pearl, Blue Zircon!” Padparadscha screamed as they dashed toward the ship. “She’s going to yell at us and alert the Sodalites!” Rhodonite shushed her, picking her up and letting her rest on her shoulders so the small gem wouldn’t fall behind.   
  
The Off-Colors were finally about to reach the ship, trying their hardest to keep up with one another and avoid the approaching Sodalites. However, a conversation began behind them, and Blue couldn’t help but tune into it as she fled.   
  
“My stars,” one of the Sodalites gasped, still chasing the gems, “it really is them! That Pearl wasn’t kidding!”   
  
“Hush, you!” the other growled, whopping her parting over the head. “If we let Moon and Star and the rest of those rogues escape, we’ll be just as doomed as they are!”   
  
Moon and Star? Were they talking about her and Yellow? They had to be. It wasn’t like they meant Rhodonite, Padparadscha or Ronaldo. Were they really so notorious in Homeworld that they were being given nicknames outside of their gem that was apparently doomed in general now? Thoughts were rushing through her head at warp speed, so quickly that she didn’t realize how close the Sodalites were getting to her before she heard Yellow’s shrill scream.   
  
“For the love of the stars, Blue, run!!!”   
  
She gasped, looking behind her to see a smiling Sodalite about to grab for her arm. Impulses kicking in and realizing that she and the others were pretty close to the ship now, she elbowed the gem in the arm and ran as quickly as she could until she was flanking Yellow’s side. Her shove caused the Sodalites to pause briefly, leaving enough time for them to enter the ship.    
  
As soon as they were on board, Ronaldo slammed his fist against the button that closed the door. “Step on it!” he screamed, turning around to hopefully face the Rutiles. However, what he saw in front of him was something he surely wasn’t expecting.  
  
The interior of the ship was absolutely wrecked, with multiple large holes in the walls, wires exposed, an axe embedded in the observation window and Ronaldo was pretty sure there was something on fire. Not sure what. 

The tape deck was playing, the only sound other than fizzes and pops from damaged technology. In the middle of all the chaos, Fluorite was flopped on the floor, in the middle of a deep nap, covered in dust, the Rutiles reclined in their now-damaged chair, and Lars was lain back against Fluorite, sat on the floor and cradling the tiny green gem that had been causing them grief for the last two weeks in his arms.

Lars looked up at Ronaldo with a smile that at first looked loving, but then Ronaldo looked closer. It seemed like Lars was close to tears. When he shifted his gaze down at the tiny gem in his arms, he saw that her sharp teeth were deeply embedded into Lars’ hand enough to draw blood.

Ronaldo sucked in his cheeks and rubbed the back of his head. “So...um…” He ignored the angry thump on the ship door from the Sodalites behind it. “Is that...Glen Campbell on the tape?”

Lars smiled wider, and then squeaked out, audibly pained, “Yup.”

“That’s a good one,” Ronaldo spoke, shifting his gaze.

“Oh yup. Briiiings back memories,” Lars gritted through his teeth.

“It makes me think of a time when I could just go in the living room and sit down and- OKAY I CAN’T DO THIS,” Ronaldo broke. “WE FUCKED UP THE MISSION.”

Lars finally snapped and let out a painful and long scream.

“WE ALMOST GOT CAUGHT AND SOME CRAZY PEARL FREAKED US OUT AND THE SODALITES ARE RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR DOOR.”

“MY HAAAAAAND”, Lars sobbed. “I LET HER CHEW IT BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS CUTE BUT SHE WON’T LET GO.”

“TWINS, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY FLY THIS SHIP OUT OF HERE!!!!”

“AAh!!” the twins yelped, falling off the chair, awoken from their sleep. “Right!!!”

The tiny Emerald opened her eyes and involuntarily let her teeth release Lars’ hand. He shook her off, catching her in his cape. She tried to break out of the cloth sack prison like a furious cat, but Lars kept her in there tightly as he staggered back over to his scratch covered seat and hoarsely stuttered out orders to get them off the planet.   
  
As the chaos ensued and the Rutiles took off into hyperspeed, Blue solemnly began to walk toward her quarters. She felt dizzy and sick like she was in some sort of messed up dream. Before she could reach her room, a hand on her shoulder halted her. She turned around for her eyes to meet Yellow, her face telling the other Zircon that she felt the exact same way.   
  
The two looked at one another in silence for a while, both knowing what was to be said but not knowing how to say it. After a while of the same troubled glance, Blue sighed and spoke, her voice cracking as if she was on the verge of tears.   
  
“I’m sorry for running off. I shouldn’t have caused all that. I won’t do it again...”   
  
Yellow exhaled deeply. “It’s okay. That’s not what I’m worried about.”   
  
“I know.” She walked toward the nearby window, Yellow’s hand sliding off her shoulder as she did. Feeling as if she’d pass out from the stress and anxiety the situation was providing, she sat down so that her face was level with it. The blue gem pressed her hand against the glass, looking outside at the scenery of space. “I always knew this was a possibility, but I don’t think I was prepared for it.”    
  
“Me too.” Yellow appeared behind her to where Blue could see her reflected against the stars in the mirror along with her own face. Soon, she took a seat as well, plopping down next to her partner and looking outside the ship.   
  
“They could be anywhere out there,” Blue pointed out, watching as the ship sped by galaxies and planets. “There’s no telling what the Diamonds have done to them.” She hung her head and exhaled a shaky breath, a tear rolling down her face. “This is all my fault…”   
  
Although she was speechless for a while, Yellow soon brought her hand up to cup the other Zircon’s face and used a finger to wipe away her teardrop. “Hey,” she said in a calming tone, “it’s no one’s fault but the Diamonds. No telling what they’re covering up from everyone if they did away with a whole line of gem just because of what one of them said in a trial. Maybe this will be the red flag that causes the other gems to rebel too.”   
  
The thought almost put a smile on Blue’s face, but it didn’t quite make it. “I don’t know. They’re good at covering things up. I doubt most gems will even bat an eye. Like that Olivine Pearl…” She felt choked up again at the memory of the gem she’d freed blowing up at her, accusing her of all these terrible things she didn’t even know she did.   
  
Heart crushing under the weight of both the situation and seeing Blue like this, Yellow did the only thing she knew to do: place a comforting kiss on her partner’s forehead. She used the hand that once cupped Blue’s face to gently stroke the side of it, pushing her forehead against the other’s to her best ability. They sat like that for a while, the only sound being the occasional choked sob from Blue.   
  
After some time, Yellow moved her face upward and glanced out at the vast galaxy displayed in front of them. As soon as she moved to look toward it, a shooting star zoomed past the ship. Right behind it, as if part of a backdrop, was a planet’s moon shining a silvery blue in the distance. She began to think back to something else she’d discovered during their failed mission, and a smile crept on her face.   
  
“W-What is it?” Blue asked, noticing her sudden change in expression.   
  
“Oh,” Yellow gasped, taken off-guard. “Nothing. It’s just…” She sighed again, pushing her face against the glass of the window. “Moon and Star...that’s us, right?”   
  
“Who else would it have been? Lars and Ronaldo?” Blue tried to laugh at her own jesting, but she could only muster a pitiful squeak. Yellow smiled wider at her, grin turning into a more wistful one as she contemplated the names the other gems had given her and her partner.   
  
“I like it.”    
  
Before anything else could be said, footsteps approached the two. They turned to see the captain and his first mate, both of them looking like they’d just had a pretty rough time. Of course Ronaldo was all scruffed up from the mission, but Lars didn’t look much better. His hair was going every which way, and he had a thick bandage around his hand.    
  
“I gave her to Fluorite,” he gasped, sounding extremely exhausted. “She likes Fluorite. And I put that slow song back on, so she’d calm down and stop biting shit”   
  
Blue and Yellow frowned, realizing they’d missed quite a bit on the ship. “Who?” asked Yellow. “What in the name of the galaxy even happened to you?”   
  
“It’s a long story,” Lars groaned.    
  
“We’ve got time.”   
  
“Ugh, fine.”

 

_ And if I ever lose my eyes, if my colours all run dry, _

_ Yes if I ever lose my eyes, Oh if I won't have to cry no more. _


	8. Southern Nights

_ Feel so good _

_ Feel so good _

_ It's fright'ning _

_ Wish I could _

_ Stop this world from fighting _

 

“Now can one of you ladies fetch me an axe?” Lars asked the two remaining crew members, a determined gleam in his eyes.

“When did we get an axe on board?” one of the Rutiles questioned nervously.

“Last time we visited Earth.” He waved off. “It’s probably in my ‘Problem Box’.”

“ _ With  the  sticks  and  swords. Oh  yes _ ...” Fluorite nodded, slowly lumbering over to a large crate of weapons Lars had collected and dug in, soon pulling out a good old-fashioned fire axe.

“Thank you muchly!” Lars grabbed it from her and cranked up his music on the speakers. “Now let’s get assertive!”   
  
“Yeah, assertive!” one Rutile cheered.   
  
“Why are we being assertive again?” the other asked, genuine curiosity in her voice. Her twin studied her a bit before nodding in agreement.   
  
“ _ I  think  the  captain’s  getting  one  of  his  plans, _ ” Fluorite informed them, rolling her eyes.   
  
“Uh oh.”   
  
“Yikes.”

Lars gleefully sang along to the music as he reeled back and swung the axe straight into the wall. The crew members jumped in shock and stared at him. He turned and smiled at them.

“Sooo, I want to apologize in advance, but we have had this blessed little bundle from heaven in our walls for two weeks, and as you can tell by that hole I just put in the wall, I’m about ready to tear my hair out of its scalp!” He began to laugh, overly cheerful. “We’re getting this little darlin’ out of the wall and restrained, and I don’t care how we do it! Are we clear here, friends?”

“O-oh!”   
  
“Very clear!”

“.. _.I  just  remembered  I  have  to  go  do- _ ”

“Do what, Fluorite?” Lars smiled, voice sweet but the axe still held mightily in his hand.

“ _....nothing _ .” She smiled awkwardly.

Lars gave a nod and continued to smile and sing as he swung the axe at the wall, waiting for the little Emerald to eventually come out.

“Come on out, sweetie!” Lars singsonged as he continued to bust holes in the walls. “Can one of y’all be a dear and have a net at the ready?”

“Oh no, he’s slipping into a southern accent,” one Rutile whispered to Fluorite.   
  
“That’s step three in ‘ _ How to Tell if Your Captain Has Lost it _ ’...you know...that weird guide Lars made for us so we could recognize his mood swings?” her twin informed the leisurely fusion.

“ _ Oh  right. _ ” Fluorite nodded, watching Lars prance about the ship and leave massive holes in it. “ _...how  many  steps  were  there? _ ”

“Four.” The Rutile that spoke grimaced.   
  
“Do you remember the other steps?”   
  
“Well…”   
  
Lars suddenly flipped around, his left eye twitching violently as he glared daggers at the gems behind him while still smiling as if nothing was wrong. “Did one of you kind ladies say something? I’m sorry, it’s just that I can hardly hear anything above the music and the noise from the inside of the ship and the sound of my axe chopping into said insides of the ship!” He then violently began to tear into the walls with the weapon yet again.   
  
“Oh no, I think twitching was another one!” one of the Rutiles muttered under her breath to her twin and Fluorite.   
  
“I thought it was a pleasant voice?” the other asked.   
  
“ _ No,  I’m  pretty  sure  it  was  twitching, _ ” Fluorite corrected her.   
  
“Now, now,” the captain’s voice rang out once again, cooing into the wall, “don’t run away, my precious little angel. Your wittle captain waptain is gonna get you out of there, yes he is! He’s gonna pull you right out your wittle hole so you won’t electrocute yourself and suffer a painful death that could blow up the ship and kill him and all his wittle fwends too!”   
  
“Who cares what order they came in!” one of the Rutiles fretted.   
  
“They’re both happening anyway!”   
  
“ _ What  was  the  final  step  then? _ ”   
  
“Hmmmm....I think it was...FIRE,” one Rutile commented, scratching her chin.   
  
“Yes,” her twin agreed. “FIRE. In all capital letters.”   
  
“ _ What  does  that  even  mean? _ ”   
  
“I’m...not sure.”   
  
“He never really explained it.”   
  
Fluorite squinted. “ _ Wait,  where  is  the  captain  anyway? _ ”   
  
Lars reappeared with a strange object in his hands almost instantly after she spoke. The Rutiles and Fluorite craned their necks to see what it was, but they didn’t have to wonder for too long. He pressed a button on it and orange flames spewed from its top, illuminating his wicked smile.   
  
“Come to papa, little Emerald!”    
  
“ _ So,  that’s  what  it  means. _ ”   
  
“We’re doomed.”   
  
“Take cover.”   


Fifteen minutes later, the three crew members were sat in the middle of the ship in a daze. The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air and wires sparked every few seconds. The axe was embedded at least five inches into the plexiglass window, and it honestly impressed them how deep it was.

“Um...I...want to apologize...again...for my er...lapse in judgement, crew.” Lars swallowed, his face slightly covered in charcoal, and the crazed look he had before now replaced with a calm glaze of defeat.

“ _ Did  we  catch  her? _ ” Fluorite asked, exhausted.

“No,” the Rutiles both sighed.

Lars rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Okay...we’ll have to come up with a new plan, one that doesn’t involve gasoline or smoke grenades-”

“ _ Or…....we  could  just  catch  her  now. _ ” Fluorite pointed to the small gem who had just plopped herself right in front of him, looking as small and curious as ever.

In a split second, Lars had tackled the floor with his cape and was holding a writhing, squeaking swaddle. He cackled in triumph. “I got her!” The other two crewmates cheered, more than relieved all that was over.

“Okay, little Emerald!” He held a scolding finger out. “You’re going to calm down and be nice and we won’t-” He paused in awe to see her eyes had gone wide and focused on his finger, and he experimentally moved it left and right, watching them follow it.

He breathlessly laughed. “Oh my god, she’s like a kitten!” Lars offered his finger to her, almost relieved to see her gently nibble it.    
  
“Guys, I figured it out,” he laughed again. “I can calm her down by- AUYUUUUYGHGH!!!”

“ _ What  is  it?! _ ”

“SHE’S GOT HER TEETH ON MY HAND!” Lars almost sobbed, horrified at how sharp they were and how deep they were getting. “Let go let go let go!!!” he pleaded with the baby gem, shaking her in his arms.

The two crew members watched, then looked at each other, wondering who would assist their captain and both spoke up. “Not it.”

Lars was nursing his bandaged hand, wincing as he lay back on the bed. “Well, sorry the prison mission was a fluke for you. And...I’m sorry I became mad with power and put an axe through the ship.”

“Well, I guess it was a bad day all around, huh?” Ronaldo sighed, resting in his shorts and undershirt. “Tomorrow will be better. And Peridot can fix all the axe marks in the ship when we get to Earth! Whenever that is...”

“Right,” Lars groaned.

“...Where’s the little gem?”

“Dunno. Left her with Fluorite. But with our luck, she’s in the ship walls again. I probably scared the bejeezus out of the poor thing. Parent of the year, right?”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. I would have probably used dynamite in your situation,” Ronaldo assured. “I haven’t heard anything moving around in them, but who knows. Mind if I turn out the lights?”

“Mmm, nah. I’m about to doze.” Lars smiled tiredly. “Mind if I play my music super soft?”

“Not at all. Go ahead.,” Ronaldo beamed, kissing his cheek. “Nighty night,” he whispered and snuggled under the covers. Lars settled under the blankets and getting drowsy from the dark, warm environment, began to drift off while his music played and first mate snored.

Until he felt something running down his leg.   
  
The captain’s mouth turned upward into a smirk, and he giggled. “Damn, Ronnie. I thought you said you wanted to sleep, not-”   
  
He was caught off-guard as he realized that whatever was climbing all over his leg wasn’t really fingers but something almost paw-like and that Ronaldo was asleep, making the chances of it being him trying to get frisky rather slim. Confused, he lifted the covers slightly and found himself face-to-face with a certain small green alien. And then he felt the fangs snap around his left foot.

“OW F-!!” Lars almost screeched in pain, slapping a hand over his own mouth so as not to wake Ronaldo and stared intensely at the tiny gem currently latched onto his foot. He drew a deep breath into his nose.    
  
“Okay, okay,” He tried to calm himself, even in such intense pain and kept his gaze at the tiny gem. “...Please...take your mouth….off. My. Foot.”

The little Emerald blinked at him curiously and immediately let go, scrambling on all fours to climb up to sit on his chest and stare him right in the eyes.

“Okay...so we can communicate here….sort of. You can do that much, can you?” He rubbed his face tiredly, looking at her.

For several long moments, Lars just stared right at the Emerald, trying to read her blank expression as she sat on his chest like some tiny infant. She gave a small chirping coo.

“I...bet you were pretty scared if you were hiding in our ship’s walls that long,” he mumbled. “You probably didn’t know where you were. I mean, you were only alive for like ten minutes before you got out of that little hole in the ground and into our ship, right?”

The gemling didn’t respond at all, instead tilting her tiny head as she stared at Lars with wide saucer eyes.   
  
Lars giggled softly, looking away. “Oh, right. You can’t talk yet. Well, that’s okay.” He glanced at the tiny gem for another second and patted her on the head. “In the meantime, uh...I’ve gotta get some rest. You gonna be okay?”   
  
The Emerald blinked at him again. Lars gave her one last smile and shut his eyes, settling down against his partner while laying on his back with the tiny gem on top of him.    
  
“Nighty night,” he sighed, starting to drift off to sleep. While he was doing so, the Emerald slowly made her way down to the space underneath Lars’ arm and snuggled up against him there, shutting her eyes and matching the rise and fall of her chest to the pink human’s.

 

_ Mysteries _

_ Like this and many others in the trees _

_ Blow in the night _

_ In the southern skies _ __   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In full honesty the reason we selected this song as the chapter title was the image of Lars going all Jack Torrance on the ship walls to such a cheery song was really funny.


	9. Danny's Song

_And even though we ain't got money_

_I'm so in love with you honey_

_And everything will bring a chain of love_

 

“ _Overcooked gems often possess congenital weaknesses that affect their projected size and can also affect their physical strength and maturity_ ,” Lars read aloud from the gem-tech screen he had Peridot install in the ship and had been using pretty frequently to access more information.

The Emerald had barely left his side for the last few days, almost like a tiny shadow following after him on all fours and tugging on his cape when she wanted to climb up his tall spindly body to leap to somewhere else. He figured that if he really wanted to help her, the least he could do was do some research. And maybe figure out a name other than “Little Emerald” to call her. It got pretty confusing.

“ _While it is not possible to change all conditions of an overcooked gem,_ ” he continued to read, “ _one can help its maturity, size and other attributes grow by applying a topical mineral solution to the gem’s surface, as shown below._ ” He looked at the spray bottle full of the concoction he had just mixed from following the article’s directions. It smelled like the stuff Vidalia used to clean paint off her brushes back on Earth, but with everything he mixed in, it looked just as nasty too.

“Okay, little Emerald.” He awkwardly glanced at the tiny gem who was sat on the dash of the ship, looking at him expectantly. “This will help you get big and strong...I guess.”  
  
He carefully misted the pungent spray on her. She squeaked in delighted surprise at the mist and promptly ruffled her fluffy collar like a baby duck. The gemling then held her chubby, tiny, clawed hands out for another spray.

Lars distractedly put the bottle down as he read the article. “‘ _Applying this once a day, an overcooked gem can see results gradually over the course of 18-20 years_.”

He sucked in his cheeks, realizing this would be slower than he thought. He’d been hoping within a few weeks, she’d be talking like the rest of them, but with how severely affected she was, it could take almost the same amount of time it would for a human child to grow up.

Not that it was a bad thing in that regard. It would definitely make the parenting aspect feel much more natural.

He closed the article and looked down again to see the little gem had gotten impatient with him and was happily hugging the spray bottle to allow herself to get covered in the mist, drenching herself with much enthusiasm.

“Ahhh, honey no!” Lars almost laughed, scooping her up before she got any more on her. “You’re dripping wet!” He wrinkled his nose. “Man that stuff reeks!”

“What happened?” Ronaldo was walking from his room, immediately screwing his face up at the strong mineral spirit smell.

“She got too happy with the spray bottle,” Lars sighed with a giggle, drying the little gem’s hair and collar off with a dish towel. This left her delightfully fluffy. “I made a batch of the stuff that’s meant to help her grow.”

“There’s actually articles out there about that? I thought Homeworld’s policy for misfit gems was to destroy them?” Ronaldo looked with slight concern at the infantile gem.

“Yeah, but rebel gems have access to this netspace!” Lars winked. “And you’d be surprised how many of them are off-color friendly.”

“Well, maybe if we ever meet any of them, they could give us some more advice on uh…..this.” Ronaldo pointed to the tiny Emerald that was intently crawling up Lars’ arm to perch on his shoulder.

“Yeah.” Lars shrugged with a smile, “It would be nice to see more friendly faces in this galaxy-”

_KA-BLAM!!!_

“What was that?!” Lars gasped as the ship was suddenly shaking from the loud noise and some sort of impact.

“Lasers from a Homeworld ship!!!” the Rutiles spoke up. “We’re under attack!!”  
  
Bright red warning signs began to flash around the ship, and Lars cursed under his breath as he heard the sound of lasers being fired from behind him. He rubbed his forehead and sighed. It had been so long since anything like this had happened, and he felt momentarily panicked trying to come up with a solution.  
  
“Okay,” he finally spoke, “we gotta either fire back or try to lose them. Ronaldo, you go help the crew with this while I put the little Emerald in my…” Lars’ voice trailed off as he realized he couldn’t find the small gem that had previously been right in front of him.  
  
“Little Emerald!?” he gasped, looking to his left and right before noticing something tiny and green sticking out from underneath his chair. Smiling for a moment, he crouched down to where his eyes were level with the cowering gem. “Awww, c’mon. There’s nothing to be-”  
  
Another loud blast that shook the ship sounded, causing the small gem to cower even further underneath the chair in fear. Lars stood and turned to the rest of the crew, who were desperately trying to defeat the ship attacking them.  
  
“They keep dodging our strikes!” one of the Rutiles informed him.  
  
“There’s no way we can make it!” the other followed up.  
  
“I think our safest bet might be landing on another planet,” Rhodonite whimpered, running one set of hands down her face in fear.  
  
“Careful!” Padparadscha called. “We’re about to be located and attacked by a Homeworld ship!”  
  
“Uhhhhhh…” Lars looked back to the chair, biting into his lip. “Find a place to land! We can probably lose them that way.”  
  
“There’s a planet to our right,” one of the Rutiles informed him, doding a blast from the enemy ship.  
  
“Should we try it?” her twin asked.  
  
“Yeah!” Lars hastily replied, his attention going back to the gem hiding under his chair. “Try it!”

In the panic, the Rutiles jerked the controls a little too suddenly, which sent the ship into a sharp right turn, nearly flipping. Lars yelped as he slid along the floor, trying to grab onto his chair to keep from moving further, watching Ronaldo tumble like a hay bale. The little Emerald began chirping and yelping in absolute terror as she slid along the floor, her tiny paws scrambling to grab something.

“Sorry!” the twins yelped, pulling the ship back to a steady angle and quickly but carefully descending down towards the planet.

“I think we’ve lost them,” Rhodonite assured, still looking uneasy. “For now…”

“Okay!” Lars crawled back into his seat, brushing his curls out of his face. “That was wild.”

“We’ve been through wilder,” Ronaldo called from the floor where he was lying, still very much jumbled from the turbulent flight.

“Oh definitely. Still, it would be scary to any-” He paused and looked around. “Did…any of you see where the little gem went?”

Everyone shook their heads, and Lars sighed, getting on all fours as he crawled to see what nooks and crannies their newest little member might have squeezed herself into. That whole mess must have really shaken her up.

Lars was only the littlest bit amused to see her nestled under the kitchen area they had installed back on Earth. It was only seeing the terror in her large eyes and how her tiny body shook anxiously that he could feel his heart break for the poor thing.

“What’s the matter?” he spoke to her, voice soft. “Did all the noise and shaking scare you?”

She made no response other than curling into a tighter huddle. “Hey, no, it’s okay!”  
  
Lars carefully inched a hand in to touch her, first petting her then scooping her into both his hands. She was tiny enough that he could hold her in just one, but this was a lot easier.  She was tense and terrified but made no move to leave his hold.

“ _Is  she  alright_?” Fluorite asked from the stairs.

“Y-yeah.” He felt how violent her trembling was through his gloves. “She’s just kind of freaked out is all. I’m gonna go take her to my room and see if it helps.”  
  
“C-Can I come?” Ronaldo’s quiet voice piped up as he slowly made his way onto the scene, looking at Lars and the tiny gem he was holding anxiously.  
  
Lars sighed, giving his partner a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks, but I think this is something I gotta do alone. You make sure everyone else is safe.”  
  
“Oh,” Ronaldo replied, faking a smile. “Okay.”  
  
The captain nodded to his first mate and the rest of the crew, heading to his quarters with the little Emerald in his arms. She was still shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm and trying her hardest to bury herself in his arms so she wouldn’t be seen. His heart ached just looking at her like this. Hopefully he would be able to calm her down.  
  
He opened the door to his room and lay down on the bed, placing the gemling on his chest. She tried to escape at first, but Lars gave her a gentle look and patted her on top of the head.  
  
“Heeey, settle down,” he whispered, keeping a comforting hand around her. “Those mean ol’ gems aren’t gonna get you as long as I’m here. You’re safe.”

Slowly but surely, letting out her breath in tiny whimpers, she eventually got herself to calm down enough that she could lay still in his arms. He gently pet her along her back like a kitten and slowly pulled his cape off to put on top of her.

She scrambled in place a bit, tangling her limbs in the fabric but soon settled down and buried her face in it, deciding this quiet darkness was the safest place she could possibly be. When Lars was certain she was calmer, he sat up, holding her in a swaddle and moved to sit over the edge of the bed as he reached for his cassette player and took the headphones out.

“Would you like some music?” he asked quietly. “This is the kind I listen to when I can’t sleep, but I want to.” He knew she didn’t understand quite everything he was saying, but gentle soft words were what she needed. And gentle soft sounds. Turning on the tape player at the lowest volume, Lars smiled as he heard the familiar tune from growing up.

“Oh, this one,” he said to the gemling in his arms. “My mom would play this one on car trips all the time when I was a kid. She was a big Loggins and Messina fan when she was my age. Said if she didn’t marry dad, or a woman, she’d probably have gone after Kenny Loggins. And I honestly don’t disbelieve that. She’s kind of crazy.” He laughed ever so softly, gently rocking his arms. “I think this was definitely my parent’s song y’know, like...someone having a song that speaks for them? This one was definitely it.”

The tiny Emerald looked up at him with large eyes, visibly starting to calm down as she chewed on her claw.

“Sometimes, when I’m really anxious, I think about the car trips I took as a kid,” he continued, “and all the music my mom had collected. I’d be lying if I said this was my favorite kind, but it makes me think of my family. And everything they’ve done for me.”

As he continued to rock her, he stared ahead. “My parents are renewing their wedding vows next summer. I promised I’d be there for that. I think I want to surprise them by singing or playing at their ceremony and stuff. Or get Steven to help me out. Guitar is more my parents’ sound, but I can only play a few chords. Piano though...I used to be good at it. Maybe I’ll play this song...and a few others. It’ll take some planning”

The chorus came along again, and without even thinking much, Lars began to sing along, the words very soft in his throat but oddly not sticking or guttural. He smiled warmly, still continuing to sing the words even beyond the chorus, and by the time the song faded, he wasn’t embarrassed at his own voice anymore.

He looked down when he felt a small hand press against his chest and saw the tiny Emerald was looking contently calm, a snaggletoothed smile gently on her face as she cuddled into his hold. Lars smiled back. “Hey, that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile, Little Emerald- hmmm....you need something that will stick when you grow up.”  
  
The small gem cocked her head to the side, confused about what Lars was thinking of. He looked at her with a warm expression.  
  
“Ya know, a name,” he continued, patting her on the head again. “I can’t just keep calling you Little Emerald forever. And I can’t really call you just Emerald. That name’s kinda tainted for me.”  
  
The Emerald squeaked, as if she knew what Lars was saying and agreed with him. It earned a chuckle out of the captain. He continued to gently pet the small gem’s back, thinking out loud as he did so.  
  
“Hmmm...Emmy? Nah, too straightforward. Em? Nah, too short. Ermeraldas…? Pfft nah, waaay too fancy.” He shifted his gaze back toward the gem on his chest. “What do you think? What do you want to be called?”  
  
She sat upward and screwed up her face as if she were thinking. After a while, she turned around to look Lars directly in the eyes and squeaked loudly, wearing a smug smile afterward. He burst into a fit of giggles after, ruffling her hair.  
  
“Oh man, I don’t think I can make that noise,” Lars jested. He attempted to imitate the small gem but sounded more like a seagull choking on a bagel, making her squeak again as if she was laughing at him. “Ya see? I’d have no idea how to call for you!”  
  
The Emerald nodded in understanding, laying back down on her stomach. Lars kept thinking about name ideas but soon drew a blank. He lazily put a finger in front of the little gem’s nose and gave a tiny smile as she sniffed it curiously then began to nibble it.

“Tickles,” he laughed. “Y'know, you're not the first person to take a bite out of me. In first grade, there was a girl who got upset that I took her dinosaur green crayon and bit me right on my elbow!” He lifted his arm to pull the sleeve back and show her the faded little mark. “It's hardly there anymore, but it hurt like a mother-” He cut himself off. “I just remembered her name. Emily O’Reilly. She did _not_ like me, and I don't-”

He paused then smiled. “Well there's a name idea. Emily?”

The little gem’s eyes grew wide at the suggestion, and her lips curled into a happy toothy grin. She clapped two of her clawed hands together, clearly approving of the name Lars threw out. The captain nodded and gently tapped his finger against her nose.  
  
“Well then,” he said, “welcome to the family, Emily.”

 

_And in the mornin' when I rise_

_Bring a tear of joy to my eyes_

_And tell me everything is gonna be alright_


	10. Dreams (I)

_ Oh my life is changing everyday _

_ In every possible way _

 

“Lars? You gonna stare into space all day or are you going to play your cards?” Ronaldo looked up from his hand, shifting his eyes from side to side even though it was literally just the two of them interested in the nerdy card game he'd requested Steven bring from Earth.

“I'm not. I'm watching Emily.” Lars laughed softly, watching the baby gem roll on the floor as she fought with the squeaky plush toy he'd found for her, chomping at it with tiny determined fury. “She's cute.”

“Well she's certainly...active,” Ronaldo observed, trying to give a smile that didn't look tense.

He didn't really know how to say it without hurting Lars’ feelings, but being a parent was an anxious thought for him. He also didn't really like having his time with Lars split between something that caused a monetary amount of damage every week.

“Do you want to watch her during the next fuel stop?” Lars suddenly offered, smiling hopefully. 

“Uhhh,” he began. “I...”   
  
“Sweet!” Lars cut him off before he could even answer. “You’re the best, Ronnie.”   
  
Well, that wasn’t what he was going to say but might as well agree. “Yeah! No problem, babe!” He looked over to the tiny Emerald as she viciously shook the plush toy, eventually beheading it.   
  
“Darn,” Lars sighed. “I’m gonna need more thread if she keeps that up.”   
  
Ronaldo grimaced, imagining the stuffed animal’s head as one of his fingers. “Sure will, huh?”   
  
“Captain!” one of the Rutiles called.   
  
“We’ve landed!”   
  
“Alright!” Lars called over to them, getting to his feet and stretching. “You sure you’ve got this, babe?”

“Um-” Ronaldo was cut off with a happy kiss from Lars.

“Thanks!” the Captain cheered as he headed off with the Rutiles to get the ship refueled.

Smiling dopily from the kiss, Ronaldo sighed, looking down at Emily and silently hoping she would just sit in place and expect nothing from him. She was curled around the decapitated corpse of the toy, and her eyes fluttered with anticipation for a nap. He didn’t realize how tense he was until Blue playfully tapped his shoulder, and he nearly jumped in the air.

“S-sorry!”

“Oh! No, no, it was my fault,” Blue assured, then looked to where he was staring and back. “....Is everything alright?”   
  
Ronaldo faked a smile, hoping it was good enough. “Oh, of course! Everything’s just hunky dory!”   
  
Blue frowned. “You sure?”   
  
The pink human sighed, dropping his front instantly. “Okay, yeah. I’m stressed.”   
  
The Zircon looked away slightly, patting his shoulder. “Oh. I’m sorry. That makes two of us, I guess.”   
  
“Yeah...wait,” Ronaldo’s voice suddenly grew concerned, “why are you stressed?”   
  
Blue heaved a deep breath. “It’s just...Yellow’s been kinda...well-”   
  
“And what’s going on over here?” The other Zircon’s voice approaching caused the other to halt in whatever she was going to say, faking a huge smile.   
  
“Oh, hello there!” Blue greeted Yellow.   
  
“We totally weren’t talking about you just now!” Ronaldo followed, causing Blue to glare daggers at him.   
  
“Well, that’s good,” she laughed, putting an arm around the other Zircon’s shoulder. Her eyes wandered over to Emily, who was in a heap on the floor sound asleep. “Is the little one knocked out?”   
  
“For now,” Ronaldo grumbled. “But she’ll be awake and trying to eat my valuables in no time. Trust me.”

“Ah yes, a rebellious soul!” Yellow grinned brightly. “The more the merrier, I’d say. She can learn a lot from me and my little outlaw ‘Moon’ over here, yes?”   


“Er, what? Moon?” Ronaldo tilted his head.

“Our code names,” Yellow reminded him. “That Homeworld gave us?”

“Oh, right, right,” Ronaldo nodded, looking at Blue’s visibly uncertain face.

“It just is...so invigorating to have such notoriety!” Yellow was grinning from ear to ear. “To be outlaws and have people in the galaxy chasing after you.”

“Well, that last part is terrifying sometimes but okay,” Ronaldo added.

“I just can’t wait until we get to Homeworld and show those Diamonds that they messed with the wrong Zircons!” Yellow laughed, looking giddy as she headed back to her private quarters while still rambling with excitement.

Blue looked at Ronaldo. “...See? It’s almost like she forgot that  _ all of our kind _ is currently in danger.”

“Or…maybe she’s trying to forget?”

“Yeah. Either way, I...don’t like it.” Blue rubbed her nose, looking down at Emily, thento Ronaldo’s stand-offish gaze at the sleeping gem. “...You really don’t like her, do you?”

“It’s not that,” Ronaldo sighed. “I just...I know Lars really wants to be her dad and take care of her, but...I don’t think I can do it. I  _ want _ to but-” He rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “It’s complicated.”   
  
“Ohhh.” The Zircon glanced to Emily. “I don’t blame you. I still don’t quite understand this whole “dad” thing you humans do, but it seems like a lot of work. And that’s coming from a Zircon.”   
  
“It is,” the first mate agreed. “I don’t know how Lars was so okay with it so quickly. Maybe he’s a natural born parent, or maybe it’s just my genuine lack of knowledge when it comes to raising things. I never even got to take the class guinea pig home in first grade because my dad was scared it would fall in the fryers and cook itself!”   
  
Blue raised an eyebrow in confusion. “You lost me there.”   
  
Ronaldo nervously ran a hand across the back of his neck. “It’s just a lot of hard work that I don’t think I’m ready for.”

“I understand...but you should probably tell Lars that or else he’s going to keep thinking you’re okay with it.”

“I know but...I don’t want to break his heart any worse than I already have.”

The Zircon looked at him with sympathy, then looked at Emily asleep on the floor and gave a weak smile. “Did I ever tell you about the time Yellow and I met?”

“No?” Ronaldo looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “Is it a story about you two hating each other?”

“Surprisingly, no.” Blue chuckled. “We...actually didn’t at first, believe it or not.”

* * *

_ “Zeta kindergarten?” Blue Zircon Cut 4BX awkwardly laughed to the large Quartz escorting her among other newly emerged gems to the Diamonds’ shared palace, where they would be appointed to their superiors. The Quartz ignored her entirely, and Blue muttered that gems ought to be more friendly, looking in the crowd of the others that were following and hoping she would see at least one other friendly face.  _

_ One might say she was a little naive, being only seven hours old and expecting recognition, but she felt like she deserved a decent amount of respect! She craned her neck, glancing from left to right in order to take in her new surroundings. There were several colors in the buildings and sky, mostly clashes of yellow, blue and pink. Several gems were out and about doing their jobs. She managed to spot several Quartzes, a few Peridots, some Rubies and oooh! Was that an Emerald? _ __   
__   
_ “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” a voice from in front of the newly-made Zircon snapped, startling her right as she felt herself collide with the Quartz. She quickly took a step backward, raising her hands in defense as the taller gem glared daggers at her. _ __   
__   
_ “Whoa, there! Go easy on her! She just emerged from the crust a few hours ago.”  _ __   
__   
_ A new voice from behind caused Blue to turn her head to face whoever had spoken. One of the newly-formed Yellow Zircons was there, giving the Quartz who had scolded her an angry scowl.  _ __   
__   
_ At first Blue was fearing for this gem’s life. However, the Quartz’s expression softened, and she nodded her head in agreement. “My apologies. Just be careful, okay?” _ __   
__   
_ “Y-Yes, I will,” Blue promised as the gems continued to move forward. She quietly fell behind to walk next to the Yellow Zircon who had defended her. “Thank you for that.” _ __   
__   
_ The Yellow Zircon was surprised that someone had spoken to her, but she met Blue’s words with a slight giggle. “Don’t even mention it.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Those Quartzes just wanna rag on anyone they can intimidate. Trust me on that one.” _ __   
__   
__ “Oh, I’m sure you’re right,” Blue laughed, smiling at her. “They certainly give off that impression.”   


_ Yellow held her hand out. “Cut 6HL. Glad to make your acquaintance.” _

_ “4BX. Same sentiment.” Blue shook the other’s hand firmly. “Do you suppose they’ll put us in the same courts, or is it really ‘Blues for Blue, Yellows for Yellow?’” She raised an eyebrow. “I’m only seven hours old, so I have no idea how any of this works.” _

_ “Believe me, I’m 32 hours, and I still don’t know,” Yellow snickered. “If we’re lucky, maybe they’ll lump us all together.” _

_ “Well, if not, I hope to see you again sometime.” Blue smiled, turning to face the sudden addition of light as the door to the palace opened, and they stepped inside. _

_ “I hope so as well.” Yellow smiled back. _

* * *

 

“So...what happened?” Ronaldo was leaning over in his seat, interested in the story.

“We were put in the separate courts and didn’t see each other for almost 100 years. And when we met again, Yellow was, in full honesty, a complete snob.” Blue snickered. “But I’m glad it all came to this.”

“I am too. I can’t imagine what would have happened if we just left her there on the planet-”

“Left who on the what?” Yellow chirped as she walked in.

“O-Oh!” Blue immediately cut in. “The undercooked Emerald! Ronaldo was just ah...wondering what might have happened if we left her on the planet she emerged from!”

“Why, I can’t imagine she would have lasted long. That kindergarten looked ready to die out!” Yellow clicked her tongue and smiled affectionately down at Emily as she dozed. “Leave it to our Captain’s merciful rebel nature to give her a new home.”

Blue and Ronaldo looked at each other as Yellow made a daring attempt to scoop up Emily in her arms. “And I must say, she is a cute one! Look at that chubby cheeky f-AIYEE!!!”

Yellow was cut off as Emily, in a dazed panic from being woken up, suddenly flailed her claws wildly all over and leaped out of the other gem’s arms. Ronaldo held his breath in anticipation as the Emerald aimed to land right on top of his head.

“Getheroffgetheroffgetheroff...” Ronaldo whimpered under his breath, absolutely mortified.

Emily squeaked in defiance, glaring at Yellow for having disturbed her nap and remained planted on the first mate’s head as he continued to tense up.

Just then, Lars walked onto the ship with the Rutiles. When he saw Ronaldo, a warm grin grew on his face. “Awww, I knew you guys would hit it off!”

“She’s a wild little thing.” Yellow nudged Blue playfully, unaware of her or Ronaldo’s visible worry.   
  
“Haha! Yes! She sure a cute one!” Ronaldo tried to hide just how tense he was. “But I really think she misses you, Lars.”   
  
“What makes you think that?” the captain asked. “She seems pretty content perched up there. Probably because your hair’s really soft.”   
  
Emily squeaked in agreement and settled down on top of Ronaldo’s head as if she were in a nest. The first mate mentally cursed himself for using good shampoo.

“Awwww!” Lars mused again, eyes sparkling. “She loves you, Ronnie!”   
  
“Yeah,” Ronaldo chuckled.  _ Either that or she’s trying to scan the inside of my head to see if she has a plausible chance of eating my brain while I’m sleeping… _

Feeling the tiny gem nuzzle further into his hair and start to vibrate, almost purring, Ronaldo sighed. So maybe the little gem did take a liking to him. 

That could prove troubling.

 

_ And oh my dreams _

_ It's never quite as it seems _

_ Never quite as it seems _


	11. Rocky Mountain High

_ Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear _ _   
_ _ Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend _

 

“Miss Emerald!”

“Wh-?! I was awake!” Emerald yelled as she was jolted out of her half-slumbering state, wiping off a trail of drool from her mouth. Having been on Earth for the last three weeks with nothing to do but watch these suckers fix her ship was fine and all, but in the time other than that, she saw no need to do anything else. Which got pretty boring. And even if gems didn’t need to sleep, it passed the time.

“I thought you might like to see the progress we have on your ship.” Bloodstone grinned, brushing some hair out of her face. “The control panel has some functions back in place again, like the lights, the hatchdoor system, the transmission controls-”

“Transmission controls?!” Emerald gasped. “Do they work?”

“They should! We can test them out if you-”

“Don’t need to ask me twice!” Emerald leaped up, speed-walking over to the ship in progress. It had been close to a month since she kept tabs on the Off Colors, and she wanted to grace them all with her fearsome presence yet again.

Giggling like a manic child, Emerald rubbed her hands together as she pushed the buttons and levers for transmission purposes, and the screen came to life. Sending a call request to Lars’ ship, she almost screeched in delight as it went through.   
  
“You!” Come here! All of you!” She grabbed Bloodstone by the shoulders beckoning for the others too. “I have to show these space roaches who they’re messing with!”

As soon as the call went through, and the screen turned on, Emerald was about to burst into a prideful speech about how she had an elite squad rebuilding her ship to its glory and that Lars’ ragtag crew wouldn’t stand a chance against her new recruitive muscle. She wasn’t actually going to let them join her, but she may as well get Lars intimidated.

But before she could even speak, she saw the enemy crew members hustling and bustling about, not even paying attention to the screen as they were passing by.

“Ron, can you please please put Emily down for a nap!” Lars could be heard begging amidst what sounded like a small creature crying incessantly.

“You know how to do it better though! Oh god, why won’t she stop crying?!”

“Babies cry! You know that!” Lars groaned.

“But it’s been  _ two hours _ .”

“Captain, what’s the next course of action?” The Rutiles could be heard, also sounding exhausted.

“Please stab me through the ears, so I can retreat to my gem and come back deaf!” a Zircon could be heard begging.

“Oh no! Emily is going to start crying for no apparent reason!” the off-color sapphire chirped.

Emerald had no idea what context was or what was making that racket or what an ‘Emily’ was, but she didn’t care. She wanted her recognition. “Hello?! Off Colors?”

“WHAT!?” Lars finally snapped, staring right into the screen with his bloodshot eyes and messy hair.

“Ahaha!” Emerald cackled. “Surprised to see me?”

“Not at all,” Lars grumbled. “I was honestly hoping you were dead though.”

“I missed you too!” Emerald smiled smugly. “I just wanted to call you and let you know I am coming for you, and I have a new team of elite forces that will tear you apart limb by limb, and we’re not afraid to-”

“Great Emerald! You do that. I don’t care.” Lars walked off-screen, turning his attention to whatever pest was wailing on his end.

“Wait! Don’t you want to-” Emerald’s voice died as the call suddenly ended. She stared at her feet in frustration.

“....well...at least we know it works!” Bloodstone grinned, trying to be hopeful.

“Was that the evil space pirate?” Mal scoffed. “He looked like a twig!”   
  
“A twig whose body is slowly decomposing,” one of the Hematites added.   
  
“Haha! Cool!” her twin piped up. “Decomposition is awesome!”   
  
“I’m sure he’s just being a difficult little twerp as always,” Emerald growled, clenching her fists and starting to walk away. “He’ll pay for that. His little crew will too.”   
  
Before the angered gem could go, Bloodstone’s voice stopped her. “So ummm...does the ship look okay?”   
  
“Huh?” Emerald whipped around to face the other, who was nervously tapping her foot and looking at her with anticipation in her eyes. “Oh! Yes. It looks brilliant. Keep up the good work!” She gave Bloodstone an awkward thumbs up.    
  
The red and green gem’s smile widened immensely, and she excitedly gave Emerald a half-salute. “T-Thank you very much, Miss Emerald! I’m very glad to be of service to you.”   
  
Emerald frowned. As much as she loved being held up on a pedestal as one of the greatest things to ever exist (which she was), something about this eager little Bloodstone doing it made her uncomfortable. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why but felt like it needed to come to an end now before it got even weirder.   
  
“Please,” she corrected her, “just Emerald will suffice.”   
  
Bloodstone blinked a few times and eventually nodded. “Yes, Emerald.”

Emerald nodded with approval, folding her arms as she looked ahead to think about what would happen next. When she glanced back, she saw Bloodstone hadn’t moved at all. “What?”

“Oh! Well, I was just....going to ask if you would mind me going for a walk to take a break.” She rubbed the back of her head. “I was kind of working on that control panel all night, and I’d really like to just...freshen up and clear my thoughts?”

“Do whatever you need to. I don’t care.” Emerald waved her off, not that interested in the stout gem’s cheery ramble.

“O-oh, okay!” Bloodstone nodded, then paused in her step. “Do you….want to come with?”

“Why would I want to walk around this area? There’s nothing to observe beyond the ship.”

“Well, what about the woods? There’s actually lots of stuff to see in there!”

“...like what?” Emerald glanced at her with a skeptical look.

“Well, there’s trees and flowers and bushes and animals and-” Bloodstone paused as she began to think of other things to list. “It’s just really, really great.”

Staring blankly for a moment, Emerald rolled her eyes in defeat. “Fine. I’ll go.”   
  
“O-Oh, yay!” Bloodstone almost grabbed her hand in excitement but stopped herself, looking away and blushing profusely. “I u-uhhh...just follow me!”   
  
Confused as to why this gem was acting so jittery about the proposal and slightly fearing that she might secretly be planning to behead her or something (it was always the cheerful ones), Emerald followed Bloodstone out of the cave. She noticed that she was moving rather slowly and assumed it was probably because she didn’t want the others to know she was going out. Maybe it was a secret hideout of hers?    
  
Once the two made it out of the cave, Bloodstone motioned for Emerald to follow her through the open clearing outside. The moonlight overheard shone just enough light for them to see where they were going. Emerald couldn’t help but look up at the stars overhead and long to be back in space with her ship working, chasing after the Off-Colors in hopes of finally bringing them and their wretched captain to their demises. Oh, how she missed her much simpler life.   
  
“Hey, Emerald!” The green gem was distracted when Bloodstone called her name. “Look!” She pointed to a small insect-like creature on a shrub. It had two large wings, similar to those of an Aquamarine, and a tube-like body with two long antennas protruding from its front.    
  
Emerald was confused. Why was Bloodstone showing this thing to her? She looked to the gem who had brought her out here and back to the tiny creature. Perhaps it was a threat and Bloodstone wanted her to destroy it? She took that chance, making a fist with one of her hands and bringing it down quickly onto the small Earth lifeform.    
  
Once that was done, she winced at the sticky feeling it left on her hand and looked to Bloodstone for approval. The other gem had a look of bewilderment on her face, as if Emerald had just single-handedly shattered her entire army. Perhaps that wasn’t exactly what she wanted.   
  
“Ohhh...you knew them?”   
  
“It was...just a harmless little butterfly…” Bloodstone gulped and tried to smile again. “But that’s okay! There are millions of those things on Earth! Let’s keep exploring!”   


“So...the fauna of this planet...is harmless?” Emerald decided to ask as they kept walking, looking carefully for any more of the ‘butter flies’ that she had destroyed without regret.

“Well, some of it. Most of the little things are okay, but some things are really big and can try to chase you. If you see anything that is big and brown and has teeth, that’s probably a bear and you should run.”

“Duly noted,” Emerald muttered, making a mental notice to research ‘bear.’   


Bloodstone then attempted to make small talk. “So...what is it like out in space? I mean, uhhh...it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. Is it still as big and beautiful as it looks from here?”

“Oh hardly,” Emerald scoffed, kicking at some dirt on the ground. “It’s nothing but floating rocks out in space. But you want to know true beauty? The glorious expansion that is the Diamond authority’s establishments on once barren, desert planets.”

“Er. I thought we were against Homeworld?”

“...Well, I can appreciate good architecture, can’t I?” Emerald huffed, and looked ahead again, stopping in her tracks as she saw what was one of the largest specimens of fauna she’d ever seen on this planet.

“Wh-what is that?”

“Oh, it’s my tree!” Bloodstone glanced proudly at the large sturdy plant.

“...your...tree?”

“Yeah! I planted it like 500 something years ago, and it’s still as strong as ever! I like to climb it every now and then!” She grinned, scrambling over to the trunk. “Even when we travel around the planet, we always come back here, and I check on it.”

“...that’s...really-” Emerald was about to say ‘pathetic’, but the cheery grin on the other’s face made something inside her think otherwise. “...nice.” She did have to admit, something this big and sturdy and intimidating was not something she expected to come from Earth.

“Really?” Bloodstone’s smile grey as she held onto a low hanging branch. “Well, thanks! Want to give it a climb?”   
  
Emerald frowned. She’d never had to climb something that tall before. Bloodstone seemed to be a natural at it, but she was built more for the rough-and-tough. Emeralds were only really meant to sit around and talk about ships all day. She looked down to her hands and back up to the red and green gem patting the spot next to her.    
  
“I suppose I could try.” What was it with this silly gem and making her want to do things like climb “trees” and show basic moral decency?    
  
She looked at the structure for a while, studying exactly how she was going to do this. And then, without thinking as much as she’d initially hoped to, Emerald lunged at the tree and wrapped her limbs around its base. She winced, not expecting the texture to be so rough and jagged. Gulping, the pirate gem tried her hardest to holst herself upward by inching her body in the right direction. However, this only caused a lot more pain. Finally, she let herself pathetically slide to the ground in defeat.   
  
“That’s it! I can’t do it!” she announced in despair. “I am a failure! A disgrace! A weakling! A-”   
  
Bloodstone cut her off, jumping down from her branch and giving her an awkward pat on the back. “Hey there, it took me a few times too! We can just sit under it for now. No need to get all sad about it.”   
  
Emerald screwed up her face in confusion. “You’re not mad at me for failing you?”   
  
“What? No! Of course not,” Bloodstone reassured the other gem, looking a bit shocked that she’d even throw the idea out there. Emerald had no idea why she would be though. This gem really had been away from Homeworld for a long time.   
  
“Oh,” Emerald finally replied to her. “Okay then. Thank you for that.”

“I mean, who would get mad at somebody for not climbing a tree? That’s just silly,” Bloodstone laughed, plopping down on the dirt and resting back against the trunk. “I can show you how to climb it later if you want.”

Emerald looked at the splinters on her gloves and the twigs in her hair. “Your training better be worth it.”   
  
She sat a short distance away, resting her face on her knees with a long tired breath, then looked up again, seeing Bloodstone smiling as she looked ahead at the rest of the forest. 

It was annoying. But intriguing.

“Why are you…” Emerald began, her tone a lot more irritated than she meant, as evidenced by the confused look the other gem gave her, and she swallowed a moment before continuing. “Why are you so...happy?”

“Like, right now?”

“No, like all the time! You’re stranded on this planet, you never served your purpose to Homeworld, you have no allegiances, just….how can you be so  _ happy? _ ”   
  
Bloodstone looked as if that was the last thing she’d been expecting to hear. She nervously moved a crimson lock of her out of her face so Emerald could see just how wide her eyes were upon being asked the question.   
  
“Well, it’s just been like this for so long that I got used to it. I found some gems who also left Homeworld and became familiar with all the fauna and wildlife and mechanics of this planet. I learned how to fix Earth things, and it’s really really fun! And after being here a while, I realized that I probably enjoy this more than I would have enjoyed staying there. Even if I do kind of uh...miss space sometimes.”   
  
“Oh…” Emerald wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. For a while, they just sat there in silence, taking in their surroundings and the semi-awkward atmosphere the conversation had created.    
  
“Hey, Emerald.” Bloodstone’s voice startled the green gem from thinking about nothing in particular. “Do you miss Homeworld?”   
  
Emerald didn’t waste time with her answer. “Of course I do! I didn’t even want to stop serving the Diamonds. They just kicked me out because I let one little ship get away and…” She noticed herself getting a little too emotional and cleared her throat. There would be none of that tonight. “Yes. I suppose I do miss Homeworld.”   
  
“I understand,” the other gem almost immediately cut in. “It was like that for me too.”   
  
At first, Emerald was willing to let her comment slide, but she realized something didn’t quite add up. “Wait, I thought you chose to leave.”   
  
Bloodstone’s eyes grew wide as if she were upset that Emerald would ever accuse her of not doing that. “I did! I swear! But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard to let go of everything I’ve ever known.”   
  
Emerald thought for a moment. Although she wasn’t familiar with the desire to betray where she came from, she realized that they both still did the same thing. Even if it was with different motives. Maybe this gem wasn’t so different from her after all. Well, despite her status.   
  
“I guess you’re right,” she finally agreed, nervously crossing her legs as she sat on the forest floor. “I take it you, uh...really miss space? You ask me about it a lot.”   
  
The mechanic gem looked to the sky. “Yeah, I do. I know I shouldn’t, but it just looks so beautiful up there every night.” She sighed again. “Earth is great and all, but If I could just fly through the cosmos one more time…”   
  
Emerald frowned. She was almost making her big betrayal plan too hard to carry out. Not quite though. There was still no way she was going to take any of these gems to space with her. But she didn’t want to drop that bomb right now, especially since Bloodstone looked so pathetically sad about it.   
  
“It’s a good thing I’m gonna take you there then,” she chimed in, trying to make the conversation happier.   
  
Bloodstone turned her head and locked eyes with Emerald. “Are you really going to do that?”

Those stupid melancholy eyes of hope almost compelled Emerald to tell the truth, but instead, she gave a gritted smile and nod. “A-absolutely. I’m an Emerald. I keep my promises.”

The other gem grinned from ear to ear. “You really  _ are _ amazing, Emerald.”

The warm feeling in the chest cavity was concerning to Emerald. Especially when it didn’t go away after they finished their walk.

 

_ Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more _ _   
_ _ More people, more scars upon the land _


	12. For Once in My Life

_ For once in my life I have someone who needs me _

_ Someone I’ve needed so long _

_ For once unafraid I can go where life leads me  _

_ Somehow I know I’ll be strong _

 

Lars was staring apologetically at Ronaldo as he slumped in his seat, having wrapped Emily in his cape to keep her swaddled as she slept and unaware of the complete and utter mayhem she had just left Lars and the rest of the crew with.

“I’m sorry,” Lars sighed, voice a little above a whisper. “I’d go put her in our room, but I’m afraid if I stand up, she’ll wake up and cry again.”

Ronaldo lied through his teeth, trying not to look too bothered or too exhausted. “It’s fine. Babies...babies cry, and I guess we all just have to live with that for  _ who knows how long _ .”

“I think it’s just the mineral solution,” Lars theorized. “I did read that it can cause emotional changes in gems after so many times of applying it. Maybe it’s making her crankier.”

“Well, at least we know who’s causing it.” Ronaldo gave a pointed look to Lars.

“Hey, it’s not my fault! It’s all to help her grow! If I didn’t use it, she’d stay a baby forever, and as cute as that sounds, I’d rather not have her constantly be in danger of getting stepped on.”

“Fine. Fine, just…” Ronaldo raised his hands up to brush his curls back. “Whatever. I’m running on three minutes of sleep for like days, so I’m going to crash for five hours. If you need me, just...yeah.” He shook his head, looking exasperated as he stormed off.

“I think I’m going to second that,” Blue Zircon spoke up, bags under her eyes. “I didn’t know hearing something scream and wail that long would wear me out.”

“Me too,” Yellow yawned, and both Zircons stumbled to their private quarters.

“ _ I  think  I will  rest too _ ,” Fluorite slurred, weary and woozy.

“I’ll join you,” Rhodonite yawned.

“Us too,” the Rutiles spoke in unison.

“When will that Emerald stop screaming and go to sleep?!” Padparadscha screeched in fury and was quickly silenced by everyone harshly shushing her. She then followed her crewmates down the stairs to the engine room.

“We’ll come back up when we’ve rested,” one of the Rutiles spoke. “Get some rest too, captain.”

“Will do. Thanks gals,” Lars sighed, yawning as he settled back in his chair. It wasn’t as comfy as his bed, but it would do. He smiled sleepily as he saw Emily had continued to doze, and he let his own eyes close shut, slowly drifting off.   


But just before he could lose consciousness, he felt a sudden heavy weight on his head and was almost sent careening over his chair. He winced as he heard Steven and Connie yelp and plop to the floor.

“Lars!!!” they both cheered loudly.

“Steven?!” he groaned. “What the heck?”

“Where is everyone?”

“Asleep! We’ve been up for the last five hours trying to-” He went pale as he felt the fussy squirming in his arms. “No no nooooo, we just got her to sleep.”

“Who?” Connie asked, stepping forward to see what Lars was holding.

“Uh...this baby gem we found,” Lars coughed, rubbing his eyes sleepily with one hand.

“Wait, gems can’t be babies.” Connie frowned. “Right Steven…?”

“Unless…” Steven began, then gasped in horror. “Lars, you didn’t!?”

“Wh-?”    


“You let that Emerald chasing you give up her physical form like my mom and-”

“UGH NO!!!” Lars groaned, quickly silencing himself when he realized how loud his outburst was and speaking in a more hushed tone. “I found her in one of those abandoned kindergartens, and she just popped out of the ground. She’s overcooked. Like, super overcooked.”

“So...she’s just a really small gem?”

“Well, yes, but she can’t talk, she walks on all fours, doesn’t understand me half the time and acts like a kitten. So...kind of like a baby?”

“What are you going to do?” Steven stepped closer to get a better glimpse at the tiny Emerald.

“I’m using mineral gunk to help her gem get stronger so she can grow bigger and understand me and all that stuff, and keeping her safe from Homeworld and whoever else might want to hurt her,” Lars shrugged. “Maybe someday she can talk so I can understand her beyond-”

He groaned as she began to whine on cue and gently tried to soothe her. “Sorry, she’s fussy. Shhh. Hey, Emily, it’s okay.”   


“Emily?”

“She needed a name that doesn’t already give me a migraine.” Lars was feeling relief as she seemed to quiet down. “And besides, if she’s gonna be getting raised by me and Ronnie, she needed some sort of name, right?”

Steven and Connie looked at each other, a wide eyed realization growing on their faces.

“So this means…” Connie began.

“Ohmygosh!” Steven exclaimed, he and Connie looking at each other excitedly.

“What?” Lars looked up at them in confusion.

“YOU’RE A DAD!!!” they both gushed with absolute adoration, unaware that their volume echoed through the room.  


Emily began to cry loudly, and Lars felt the tiredness of 4,000 possible years of impending immortality hitting him like a ton of bricks. He could have glared a hole right through Steven’s face.

“Haha, wow Lars! You look just like my dad did in my baby pictures,” Steven laughed.

He also could have strangled him.

“No kidding.”

“Why is she crying so much? Gems don’t need to eat or sleep.”

“The mineral spray has side effects. One of them is her being cranky,” Lars groaned, trying to drown out the crying and gently rocking her in hopes she would quiet down.   
  
“Wait!” Steven suddenly exclaimed, a wide smile spreading across his face. “I’ve got an idea! Lars, can I go back through your head real fast?”   
  
“Uhhh...sure. He bent over to where Steven had easier access but trying not to disturb Emily as he did so. Once he was gone, Lars and Connie stood there together in a bit of an awkward silence.   
  
“So uh...how’s everything back on Earth going for you?” Lars tried to start a conversation.    
  
“Pretty good,” Connie replied. “Yesterday Steven and I were training, and we found a-”   
  
She was cut off by a portal opening from Lars’ head, causing the other to bend back down so Steven could make a safer exit. The magical boy popped out holding something in his hand. When he was freed from Lars’ hair pocket, the captain could get a better look at it and realized it was a ukulele.    
  
“Here!” Steven announced, holding the instrument up. “This is how my dad used to get me to calm down when I was a baby.” He strummed a few notes, and Emily instantly popped her head up, interested in what was making the strange new noise.   
  
“Are you sure that’s going to work?” Connie asked. “Some babies hate any kind of noise. I think we should-”   
  
“No!” Lars stopped her. “I think she likes it. Play a few more notes on that thing, Steven.”   
  
“Sure thing!” Steven continued to strum at the strings and created a random yet relaxing tune. The little Emerald stared at first, eyes wide with curiosity and fascination. After a while, the soft song had reached her head, and she yawned, curling up into Lars’ arms and slowly shutting her eyes. Soon enough, her breathing pattern and relaxed posture showed Lars and everyone else that Emily was fast asleep.   
  
“Wow,” Lars whispered. “You might have to give me ukulele lessons.”   
  
Steven laughed gently at his comment. “Well, my dad’s more of the music lessons kind of guy.”

“Oh yeah,” Lars snickered. “Guitar dad.”

“And you’re space dad!”    


Lars’ smile shrank a little as he looked down at Emily in his arms, then blinked tiredly. “Not sure if I deserve that title.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. Probably because every crisis I’ve had with this grub results in holes in the wall or me ready to scream. And that yeah, maybe Ron had a point: I don’t know what will happen when she grows up. She could end up going rogue and deciding to do her duty to serve Homeworld. I wish I could know what she’s thinking, but I don’t.”

He tiredly tapped Emily’s nose with a gentle finger. “Besides, I’m not old enough to rent a car. What made me think I was ready to do this?”

“Because you love her?” Steven offered the explanation.

Lars’ smile grew a little, then faltered again. “Yeah...but I have a history of not being the best at like...anything.”

“...well…” Connie began, “she obviously loves you.”   
  
Lars looked down at Emily, snuggled up in his arms as content as he’d ever seen her. Although she was asleep, he could make out the traces of a small grin on her face. Seeing it caused a warm feeling to explode in his heart, and he had to stop himself from getting teary-eyed. Maybe Connie was right.   
  
“I guess she does.”   
  
Suddenly, Connie gasped. “Wait! Steven! Speaking of dads, weren’t we supposed to help your dad back at the wash?”   
  
“Oh no!” Steven groaned. “What time is it?”   
  
“Uhhhh...” Connie fished her phone out of her pocket and looked at it, frowning. “I don’t know. The time zone gets really weird up here.”   
  
“Well, we’d better not take any chances!” Steven winced, turning to Lars. “Sorry to go so soon.”   
  
“Don’t worry about it,” the captain reassured him. “I think I need to spend some quiet time with this one anyway.” He glanced down at the sleeping gem.   
  
“Okay.” Steven grinned nervously. “Uh...can you…”   
  
“Oh, right.” Lars bent over again so the two kids could climb through his hair and go back home. Once they had done so, he was left alone in the room with nobody else but Emily.   
  
He slowly carried her to his room, careful not to make any sudden movements and wake her. As much as he wanted to continue holding her, his arms were getting tired. 

Ronaldo was snoring like a buzzsaw when Lars walked in, much to his amusement. Giving Emily a gentle kiss on the top of her head, he placed her on the bed, careful not to wake her. Afterward, he walked over to his shelf of knicknacks, grabbing the mug he’d been gifted on his 20th birthday. He dumped the pencils he’d been keeping in it out on the floor and looked at the ceramic piece with a smile.

‘ _World’s_ _#1 Dad_ ’

Cleaning off the dust inside, he walked out to the galley and over to the installed kitchen area. He needed some coffee, and he felt it was time he finally got used to this mug.

 

_ For once I can say  _

_ This is mine you can’t take it _

_ As long as I know I have love I can make it _

_ For once in my life I have someone who needs me  _


	13. Head Over Heels

_ You keep your distance with a system of touch _

_ And gentle persuasion _

_ I'm lost in admiration, could I need you this much? _

_ Oh, you're wasting my time _

 

  
  
“Soooo how long do you think it’ll be before this thing’s fixed?” Emerald asked, hovering over Bloodstone who was screwing something onto the ship’s hatch.    
  
“Judging by the current state of it and the progress we’ve made, I’d say it should be done in another week or two,” the mechanic gem announced.   
  
Emerald cocked her head to the side. “What’s a week? Isn’t that when you’re too pathetic to-”   
  
“A few days,” Mal spat, repairing one of the headlights.    
  
“Ah,” the green gem sighed, trying not to sound too disappointed. “That’s not too long at all!”   
  
“Nope!” Bloodstone seemed to buy it, acting cheery as ever. “I’d say we’re making record progress on this thing.”   
  
“Yeah,” one of the Hematites piped up from working on one of the windows with her twin. “This is the biggest project we’ve taken on.”   
  
“Even bigger than that one truck with the massive wheels we had to fix after we crashed it into a big tall thing with a bunch of humans in it?” the other Hematite asked.   
  
“I think so,” Ruby, who was doing something with the engines, agreed.   
  
“Whoa!” the Hematite gasped.   
  
“Oh no, Hematites!” Star Sapphire announced from the top of the ship. “I just had a horrible vision!”    
  
“What is it?” one of the twins asked, visibly frightened.   
  
“This wrench is going to fall and hit you on the head!” The Sapphire dropped the wrench from the top of the ship, hitting one of the twins on the forehead and giggling after.   
  
“Hey!” the twin growled, glaring at the other gem and gripping the wrench in her hand. “Get down from there so I can get you back!”   
  
“Why don’t you come get me?” Star Sapphire taunted.    
  
“Oh my stars!” Emerald gasped, horrified. “She’s starting a mutiny! Quick, everyone! We must-”   
  
“Emerald, it’s cool!” Bloodstone reassured her. “They’re just messing with each other. That’s how we are.”   
  
“Oh. Really?” Emerald glanced over to where the Hematites and Star Sapphire were, only to see the two twins desperately trying to climb the ship to get to the small blue gem.   
  
“Just wait until I get my hands on you!” the one who had been hit snarled, trying to clamber up the ship and falling onto her twin.    
  
“Nice going,” the other Hematite laughed, shoving her twin off and causing a fit of laughter to erupt from both of them and Star Sapphire as well.   
  
“Huh.” Emerald watched the two twins playfully wrestle with one another. “I guess you’re right.”   
  
“Yeah,” Mal’s voice sounded from behind Emerald, “we really like to play  _ rough! _ ” With that, she gave the green elite gem’s back such a hard shove that she almost fell flat on her face. She snorted with laughter at the other’s reaction as if she’d been waiting to do that for a long time.

“H-HOW DARE YOU!!!” Emerald saw red, never having faced such direct insolence in her life. “Do you have any idea who I am??? I oversaw the creation of 70 percent of your components’ kinds, and I could have easily had you shattered and-”

Mal shoved her again with a smug grin. “What?”

“YOU ARE A WRETCHED-”

Shove.

“HIDEOUS.”

Shove.

“STOP!!!!” Emerald screeched, which made Mal laugh hard enough to fall back onto the ground, rolling.

“OH YOU ARE SO DEAD!” Emerald roared and lunged at the fusion with fury, only to be swiftly grabbed around the middle and flung over Mal’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“H-hey put me down!!!” the green gem whined, amidst the laughter from the fusion. “This is NOT FUNNY!!!”

“Then why am I laughing?!” Mal grinned, strolling along as she carried the flailing, screaming Emerald.

Bloodstone sighed as she saw them and how pathetic Emerald’s whining was. “Okay, Mal, put her down now please.”

Mal rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine. You’re no fun anymore,” she grumbled.   
  
The fusion unceremoniously dropped Emerald with a thud and strolled away before the elite could get up and chase after her in a rage. Bloodstone then rushed over to her as she sat on the floor and pouted like a small child.    
  
“That’s not faaaair!” Emerald whined. “She’s got the strength of two gems at once, one being a Quartz! I swear, if I could have trained-”   
  
“Hey, hey, it’s okay! She didn’t mean anything insulting by it,” the red and green gem reassured her, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. “It’s just...how we bond.”   
  
“Bond?”   
  
“Well, yeah. Like...have fun with each other.”   
  
“Fun?” Emerald raised a brow. “That’s what you call fun?”

“We call a  _ lot _ of things fun, actually! But that’s just one of our favorite things to do as a group.”

“Well,” Emerald scoffed, “what other things do you do that don’t involve me getting disrespected?”

Bloodstone rubbed her chin in thought. “Hmmm...we learned some Earth games, like Tag, Duck Duck Goose, Capture the Flag-”

“After you catch the flag, do you destroy it?”

“Uhhhh, no?”

“What a stupid game then.”   
  
Bloodstone frowned, trying to think of something she could show the ex-Homeworld gem. Her features soon sparked with realization. “Have you ever heard of Hide and Go Seek?”   
  
Emerald thought for a moment. “I’ve hidden while seeking out enemy battleships. Does that count?”   
  
“Nah. This is a lot more fun than war and ships and whatever it is you get into on Homeworld. I promise.”   
  
“That’s kind of hard to beat, but I’ll listen to what you have to say,” Emerald answered suspiciously.   
  
Bloodstone beamed with excitement. “Okay, it’s really simple! We hide, and you have to find us. That’s all there is to it. If you find us all, you win. If you don’t, whoever you didn’t find does.”   
  
“I thought whoever you can’t find is penalized for being too tricky?” Ruby piped up.   
  
“No, that’s only when Mal’s the seeker,” Bloodstone sighed while the teal fusion snickered in the distance. She looked back to Emerald. “Soooo...what do you say?”   
  
The elite looked down at the shorter and stockier gem in front of her. She really didn’t feel like partaking in any games. She’d never found them interesting unless they resulted in bodily harm to anyone that wasn’t her. But something about the way this annoying little Bloodstone was smiling and laughing about the idea of playing this Earth game made it hard to say no. Perhaps she should do research on rather these gems had some sort of mind-controlling abilities because this one was certainly having a weird effect on her.   
  
“Oh, why not,” Emerald finally gave in. “I’ll give it a try. But if anyone humiliates me again, I will fire up the ship’s half-finished and currently unstable nova thrusters and blow everyone in this establishment up including myself. Got it?”   
  
“There’s no humiliation in this game! I promise,” Bloodstone reassured her, waving her hands and glaring at Mal to make sure she got the memo. The fusion looked disappointed but silently agreed in Bloodstone’s favor.   
  
“You’d better be telling the truth,” Emerald growled, but it was clear in her voice that she was just kidding around. Or was she? Unfortunately, she couldn’t even tell herself, but it made the mechanic gem giggle which in turn made her feel kinda good. “Alright! Let us begin this game of hiding and seeking!”

“Okay, so you count to thirty, and we-”

Emerald began to count faster than possible, and Bloodstone laughed. “Wait, wait! You gotta count slower so we can hide.”

“And give you an advantage?!”

“Just close your eyes and count for thirty seconds, and when you’re finished, you can go looking for us!”

Looking absolutely unenthused, Emerald closed her eye and began to growl out the numbers irritably. As soon as she got to thirty, she opened her eyes. “What now?”

Nobody answered, and she found herself standing alone.

“HOW DARE YOU ALL RUN OFF AND- ohhhhh!” The realization hit her. “Now I see the meaning of this game…”

Pulling out a blaster from her belt, she charged it and kept herself armed as she walked about, looking intently for her targets. The cave was obviously a poor hiding spot, and thus, Emerald decided to look outside in the wilderness. 

Her ears perked a few minutes later when she heard rustling in the bushes and a soft giggle. Grinning like an apex predator, she slowly sauntered over and swatting away the foliage, saw the two Hematites crouched together, their smug grins wiping right off their faces as they saw her blaster.

“Aha! Prepare to die, Earth vermin!!!” Emerald cackled, aiming the weapon at them.

“WAIT, WHAT?!”

“BLOODSTONE HELP!!!”

“Huh? Emearld? What’s-oh NO, NO, NO!!!” Bloodstone shrieked as she leapt from a tree. “That’s not part of the game!”

“But I found them! Doesn’t that mean I get to execute them?”

“No!!! No shooting anyone!” Bloodstone ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “You just….okay, it’s not a war game. It’s a game that’s supposed to be fun.”

“Shooting gems  _ is _ fun.” Emerald smiled, which made the Hematites shake in terror.

Sucking in her cheeks, Bloodstone sighed again. “Okay. Big miscommunication here, my bad. My bad. Let’s just...make it known that all of these games we have in mind...don’t involve you shooting any gems.”

“So what do I do if I find them then?”

“Make them help you find the others!”   
  
“Ooooh,” Emerald mused, finally getting the hang of the game. It was a bummer that it didn’t involve any shooting, but maybe she could find some fun in it for Bloodstone’s amusement. “Does that mean you have to help me find everyone else?”   
  
“Well, I don’t have to, but I-”   
  
“Okay! You’re mine now!” Emerald grabbed Bloodstone by the hand and began to drag her forward, tossing her gun on the ground. “Let’s get to seeking!”   
  
“R-Right away, Emerald.” Bloodstone normally would protest to such an action, but the blush heating up her cheeks was a sign that she wasn’t against this.   
  
One of the Hematites picked up the blaster Emerald had dropped and studied it. The other quickly grabbed it from her and pulled the trigger out of curiosity, shooting a hole right through a nearby tree. Her twin looked at her with a glare of disappointment, causing the gray gem to chuckle nervously. 

Finding Ruby wasn’t that difficult. She was too big and too brightly colored to really hide anywhere in the green lush woods. The Hematites announced from a distance away that they found Star Sapphire, and Bloodstone congratulated them and ordered them to start looking for Mal. 

Emerald raised a brow as Bloodstone took her hand again and led her further into the forest. The freckled gem didn’t seem to be actively looking for her crew member, just following along the path, but Emerald kept her eye and ears sharp as she tried to seek out the fusion.

“Shouldn’t we look in the underbrush, in case she’s-”

“Oh, she’s not gonna be hiding anywhere around here.” Bloodstone shook her head, continuing to pull Emerald through the forest. “Mal never plays by the rules. She probably flew off to one of the human towns to hang around a bit, and then she’ll come back and be like ‘Hey I was here the whole time! Are you just that bad at seeking?’” She gave a rumbly voice to imitate her.

“There are humans around here?” Emerald asked in slight disgust.

“Oh, no, not for at least a few miles. It would take a couple of hours to walk there. But Mal can fly, so she likes taking the opportunity to go check out civilization. Sometimes she brings back snacks!” Bloodstone shrugged. “But in the meantime, I thought we could do something together.”

“...Like what?” Emerald gave a skeptical look. If it had anything to do with some warm, fuzzy picnic, she was going to leap off a ravine.

Bloodstone stopped in front of the tree she had introduced Emerald to earlier. “Teach you how to climb this thing!”   


Emerald tensed her haunches, gulping anxiously as she saw the intimidating height of the tree. “...I...don’t climb.”

“Well, you tried earlier!” Bloodstone chirped. “And I can show you how to really do it! It’s way easier than building a ship. Or blowing up a planet.”   
  
“Bloodstone, listen. I’m an Emerald. We’re not exactly cut out for this kind of work. I’m not sure if I’m physically able to climb this...tree.”   
  
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it! Listen, Emerald,” Bloodstone nudged her so she would look into her eyes, “I think you can climb it. Bloodstones aren’t made to climb either, and I taught myself how! You’re a lot smarter and more talented than Homeworld thinks you are.”   
  
“What are you getting at!?” Emerald snarled, backing away. “I’m not stupid! I never thought I was! I’m amazing, and Homeworld knows that. I just wasn’t built for climbing, that’s all!”   
  
Bloodstone sighed, not sure what she expected the uppity gem to say. “I wasn’t trying to insult you! I was...look, how about you give it one try? Just to the first branch? And if you aren’t able to do it, that’s okay.”   
  
Emerald looked up at the length of the tree. It was definitely intimidating, especially to someone with no climbing experiences other than trying and falling flat on the ground. She glanced down to her two gloved hands, not exactly the best climbing hands unlike Bloodstone’s rougher ones.    
  
She really didn’t want to do this. The thought of failure scared Emerald even if she knew this gem wouldn’t judge her for it. But the same feeling that she’d given her before was coursing through her veins and giving her determination to at least try to climb it again.    
  
Clenching her fists, Emerald finally came to a decision. “Okay. I’ll try. But if I fall again and you tell any of those other gems, I’ll tie you to the front of my ship.”   
  
“My lips are sealed,” Bloodstone promised, pretending to zip them up like a zipper. 

Emerald took a breath in her nose and stepped up to the tree, sizing it up in her head. “Alright...I’m ready.”

She felt the two calloused hands on hers, moving them onto the tree. “Okay, so put this hand here and this hand up here and grip on tight-”

“Erm-” Emerald was awkwardly letting her arms get guided along the rough surface. “Where do I-”   


“Grab on tight and lift one of your legs up and grip your heel onto the trunk and push yourself up!” Bloodstone grinned, suddenly taking Emerald by the waist with her hands.

“What are you-!?” Emerald almost yelped.

“Sorry, just wanted to give you a boost!” Bloodstone pulled her hands back and blushed. “Just hoist yourself up using your arms and keep your leg there, and then you-”

Emerald felt her body exert more force than she expected as she lifted herself up towards the branch, seeing it was now in her reach.

“Now, put your other leg on it and grab the trunk with your opposite hand!” Bloodstone encouraged. “You’re doing it!”

With only a slight stumble, Emerald did as instructed and gripped both hands onto the trunk with absolute terror, feet planted firmly on the branch.

“Oh my stars, Emerald you did it!” Bloodstone cheered, climbing up swiftly to meet her on the branch. “I’m so glad!”

Opening her eye, she looked down and saw the ground below her. Then she looked up at the branches leveled above, and a sense of pride swelled in her chest.

“W-well, of course I did!” Emerald scoffed. “What, this was one branch...”    
  
She grinned with egotistical determination.    
  
“I could easily…”    
  
She grunted as she hoisted herself to the next branch.    
  
“Climb...”    
  
Another.   
  
“This whole specimen!”

“O-Okay easy there!” Bloodstone climbed after her. “You don’t have to go up the whole way-”

“And why not!?” Emerald cackled, already at one of the topmost branches.

“Uhhh...because then it’ll be harder for me to show you how to get down.”

Emerald paused and looked down to see just how high she was and how small the forest looked from where she was perched. And then immediately began to panic.

“Confound it!!! I can’t believe you let me do this! How am I going to get down!?”

“Simple explanation, uhhhh...the same way you came up?” 

“....You have  _ got _ to be kidding me.”

“Or I could do it the fast way,” Bloodstone offered. “You might not like it though.”

“What?”

Suddenly, Emerald felt herself getting lifted off her feet by the smaller gem, who held her bridal style. “WHAT?!”

“Going down!” Bloodstone suddenly leapt off the branch and straight down toward the forest floor. Emerald screeched incoherently, absolutely convinced she was going to die because of this nutcase gem, only to be cut off by Bloodstone sticking the landing with a large thud that shook the forest floor.

“Tada!!!” she cheered, letting Emerald go. “See?”

“Y-You could have killed me!!!” Emerald screeched. Her hair was an absolute mess, sticking every which way and covering her eye. “Y-you...you-”

Bloodstone opened her mouth to speak but began to giggle instead.

“WHAT?!”

“Y-your hair! It’s a mess!”

Emerald squinted in confusion. She used the gem tech on her wrist to summon a mirror and saw the state of her hair. If it were any other occasion, she would have been mortified and screaming. She was still mortified, but somehow the infectious bubble of giggles coming from the cheerful gem in front of her, confound it, was making her laugh awkwardly too.

“Huh. It’s not anywhere near as messy as yours looks all the time!” Emerald gave a shaky smile. “You have worse locks than the Nephrites I commandeered in sector 2!”

Bloodstone giggled more and snorted, cheeks darkening with a soft crimson blush.

“S-stop laughing!” Emerald tried to be serious, even as she was snickering.   
  
“I’ll stop wh-when you do!” Bloodstone continued to laugh, flashing Emerald a playful smile.   
  
After a while of uncontrollable laughter, the two finally began to settle down. And for the first time in such a long time, possibly ever, Emerald gave a genuine smile that wasn’t brought upon by thoughts of bringing Lars and the Off Colors to their demises.    
  
“Bloodstone,” she spoke once she’d calmed down, biting into her lip and unable to make eye contact, “I...have something I need to uh...tell you.”   
  
“Oh?” The other gem turned her head to look at her in anticipation.   
  
The green gem clenched her fists, trying hard to say what was on her mind. “I...need to...it would be wise of me to...oh...I…” Biting into her lip, she took a deep breath and screamed what she was fighting to say as loudly and quickly as she could. “THANKYOUFORTEACHINGMEHOWTOCLIMB.”   
  
Instead of replying, the mechanic gem only stood with her mouth slightly open in awe and blush spread across her face. Frustrated, Emerald tried to get her attention, fanning her hand in front of her face.   
  
“Hello? Homeworld to Bloodstone? You made me open up and show a sign of affection, which is often considered a weakness! I demand you-”   
  
Emerald was cut off when the other gem abruptly pulled her into an embrace. At first, she was expecting to poof from how tightly Bloodstone’s arms were wrapped around her middle. After a while, she grew accustomed to it and very gently tapped her back, face heating up with a dark green blush and a sigh leaving her throat. She felt completely and utterly defeated by this gem’s strange charm. But it didn’t feel too bad.   
  
Mal was flying back to the cave carrying, a bag of Chaaaps! in one hand and using the other three to throw them into her mouth. However, her eyes soon caught a very familiar bright red shape down below that looked like a huge strawberry from up above: Bloodstone’s head! A smile spread across her face, and she flew down to surprise the other gem and shame her for “losing Hide and Go Seek.” Then she noticed what she was doing.   
  
Her arms were wrapped tightly around a very confused and extremely flustered Emerald.   
  
The teal fusion’s first instinct was to fly down there and deck the Homeworld elite in the face for daring to make a move on someone who’d been so dear to her for so many years. But she stopped herself. Bloodstone sure did look happy. And who would she be if she ruined her friend’s happiness, even if she didn’t trust the gem she was with. If someone as smart as Bloodstone thought Emerald was alright, she probably was. Hopefully. If she wasn’t, Mal vowed to herself then and there that she’d be in a world of trouble for playing with Bloodstone’s emotions.    
  
But for now, she laughed softly, shook her head and continued to make her way back to the cave.

 

_ Something happens and I'm head over heels _

_ Don't take my heart, don't break my heart _

_ Don't, don't, don't throw it away _

  
  



	14. Gold Dust Woman

_ Rulers make bad lovers _

_ You better put your kingdom up for sale _

 

“Saaaay Papa.”

“...”

“Saaaay Papa.”

“...”

“Papa.”

“...”

Lars repeated the word again, staring right into Emily’s large eyes and waiting for her to open her mouth and echo him. After ten seconds, she blinked and let out a shrill noise to express her delight.

Sighing, Lars decided he had enough of that for now, scooping up the tiny gem. He’d been trying to get her to learn some words to speak for the last week, but all that came out were squeaks and chirps.

“ _ No  words  yet _ ?” Fluorite smiled as she emerged from the engine room.

“No,” Lars sighed, “but maybe it’s just too early to hope for it.”

“ _ That  could be _ ,   _ but  don’t  be too  discouraged _ .”

“I’m not,” Lars assured her with a smile. “I know she’ll get to talking one of these days. Right, baby girl?” He booped the tiny gem on the nose.

Emily responded with a cheerful squeak and put her hands on Lars’ cheeks, squishing them to make him smile bigger. Ever since he’d more or less adopted her, he’d been in a bigger state of ease than he had in the last several weeks.

Ronaldo was trying to be happy for him, for them. But he still felt nothing except fear about the whole predicament. He didn’t know what he was doing, and the idea of backing out on it to leave Lars alone just made him feel guilty. At least the crew liked her enough that even when Lars did offer Emily to him, they were quick to snatch the baby gem up for attention.

In the meantime, he’d been discussing the upcoming adventure to Homeworld with both of the Zircons. This was definitely going to be their mission, and even if Lars was Captain, Ronaldo at least wanted himself or the Zircons to lead.   
  
“Sooooo do you have any clue of where the other Zircons might be?” Ronaldo asked, idly playing with his hair as he spoke to the two gems.   
  
“I’m not sure,” Blue sighed, glancing to a corner where Yellow was staring at one of the ship’s many screens. “She’s been reviewing all the old documents she can find for as long as I can remember. Never taking her eyes away from that screen.” She laughed. “Now I know how you felt when Lars was looking for that overcooked Emerald.”   
  
Yellow could be heard from where she sat, quietly listing off the names of locations she quickly scrolled through. “Sector 12...nah. Saturn’s moons? Ah, no, they wouldn’t be at a Diamond base. Hmmmm…”   
  
“Maybe you should go talk to her or something?” Ronaldo nudged Blue and glanced over at the researching Zircon.   
  
Blue contemplated his suggestion for a while and finally nodded her head. “I guess, but she’s not doing anything wrong. We’re going to have to tell the captain what area of Homeworld we need to stop on soon, or we won’t get anywhere with this. I suppose I could try to help, but…”   
  
“But what?”   
  
The troubled gem leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “I’m just scared that the other Zircons are going to act just like that Pearl we met. What if they try to turn us all in?”   
  
Ronaldo scrunched his face up in worry. “Oh, wow. I didn’t think of that. Did they know you guys?”   
  
“Not all of them. And the ones who knew me didn’t like me because they thought I was weak. And the ones who knew Yellow didn’t like her because she was better than them at their job. It was...kind of competitive. Not to mention we’re the reason they’re all on death row.” Blue nervously brought a hand up to her forehead. “But I just can’t let every Zircon in the galaxy get shattered because of something I did! Ugh, what can we even do...”   
  
The pink human thought some more before realizing something else. “Wait. Why would they still be loyal to the Diamonds if they imprisoned them like that?”   
  
“Most gems are...weird about the Diamonds,” the Zircon informed him. “Then again, I guess Zircons are made for critical thinking. Maybe there is more of a chance that they’ll not be upset than I think…”   
  
“Never hurts to be positive,” Ronaldo chimed in, giving her a gentle pat on the back.   
  
“Oh my stars!” A sudden exclamation from Yellow’s corner of the ship caught nearly everyone on board’s attention, save for Padparadscha. It would probably catch hers in a few minutes. “I’ve got it! Why didn’t I think of this sooner!?”   
  
“Huh. Looks like she didn’t need your help after all,” Ronaldo chuckled to Blue before Yellow had a chance to excitedly run to them.   
  
“Ronaldo! Moon!” the excited Zircon called to them. “I’ve found where th-”   
  
“Wait,” Blue interrupted, a confused expression on her face, “what did you just call me?”   
  
“Huh? Oh! I mean, Blue.” Yellow blushed in embarrassment. 

“Oh, of  _ course _ you did,” Blue muttered under her breath.

Yellow’s expression harshened after the other’s response. “...What's that supposed to mean?”

“I don't know,” Blue sighed, “just that you've been a little too caught on those names ever since we learned about them.”

“Well, they certainly stand out more than Yellow and Blue. Don’t you want to be unique?” The yellow gem cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

“If being “unique” means being a wanted criminal responsible for our kind’s complete termination, then no actually. I don’t think I want to.”   


Yellow stared at her with a frown, then muttered, “I don't know what's gotten you so sour. I just spent three days-”

“Weeks! You've spent three weeks like this!” Blue threw her hands up. “Weeks of being reckless and self-centered and going off about-”

“ _ I'm _ self centered?” Yellow almost laughed. “I'm not the one who ran off to find out about this to begin with, and I'm  _ certainly _ not the one who started it!”

“Uh, ladies? We're getting off course here-” Ronaldo piped up awkwardly, but Blue cut him off.

“You treat this like it's some fun, carefree romp in the stars when thousands of gems like us could be shattered!”

“So I'm supposed to be miserable all the time like you?”

“I’m not miserable! I’m responsible! You're  _ supposed _ to be responsible about things like this!” Blue heaved a deep, furious sigh. “I thought such a supposedly bright gem like you would pick up on that.”

Yellow looked so angry and hurt by Blue’s comment that she could explode. “Are you trying to say that planning out this whole mission and researching non-stop is irresponsible? I’m stupid for actually wanting to take action?”

“You're glorifying the fact that we're a danger to our kind and anyone who knows us!” Blue snapped, ignoring how riled up Yellow had become. “That’s pretty irresponsible and stupid to me.”

“Guuuys?” Ronaldo whined awkwardly, but they paid no attention to him.

“So you'd rather us be mindless Homeworld drones instead of the heroic Star and Moon?”

“I'm not Moon, and you're not Star!” Blue yelled so loudly that Ronaldo was convinced the whole galaxy could hear. “We are a Blue Zircon and a Yellow Zircon!”

Yellow looked visibly hurt for a moment, then her face twisted angrily. “You don’t understand!” she snarled, clenching her fists. “I’m  _ sick _ of being nothing but a Yellow Zircon! I don’t want to be just another tool made by the Diamonds. I want to be special!”    
  
Blue’s mouth gaped open, and she realized that she’d perhaps gone too far. “Yellow, I-   
  
“I don’t care!” The other Zircon sighed, turning away from Blue and Ronaldo. “You’re the one who convinced me to be a pirate in the first place! I thought you of all the gems here would support me, but...if that's how you feel, then forget about helping. I can do this whole mission by myself.”   
  
“But I do want to support you! I’m just not comfortable with-” Before Blue could finish speaking, Yellow dashed off into the corridors of the ship.   
  
“Well, this can’t be good,” Ronaldo commented, still in a state of shock from the sudden argument.

“I heard yelling!” Lars hurried over from the ship’s galley. “What happened?”

“Er...well…” Ronaldo began, looking over at Blue, who looked embarrassed and hurt, “there was a bit of a disagreement and-”

A loud alarm beeped through the ship, and Lars cursed as he ran back for his chair to figure out what happened. As the alarm continued to blare repetitively, Ronaldo looked out the window in time to see something exit from the lower deck at a rapid speed out into the stars.

“FUCK!!!” Lars could be heard cursing from the galley. “THAT’S THE THIRD TIME!!!”

“What?!” Ronaldo and Blue Zircon ran over to him as he was arched over his chair in fury. “Third time for what?!”

“That’s the third time someone’s taken my personal ship!” Lars groaned. “First it was Stevonnie, then it was my mother-”

“Wait, where’s Yellow?! Yellow?!” Blue suddenly began to call out, looking panicked. Everyone else was there and accounted for but her.

“Damnit! She stole my ship?!” Lars exclaimed. He began pressing countless buttons with frothing fury, wanting an explanation for all of this.

“Hellooo?” Yellow singsonged as she suddenly appeared on the screen.

“Yellow, pardon my French, but WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK, DUDE?!” Lars screamed.

“Oh, well, you see, thanks to a little insight from Blue here, I’m apparently not special enough  to consider myself any different from the other Zircons in this galaxy!” she sneered. 

“Y-Yellow I didn’t mean it like that!” Blue insisted, fear in her eyes as she looked at the screen. “It was poor word choice, I swear!”

“Aaaanyway, I’ve decided to take this mission on by myself, and if you want to join, then  _ good luck _ finding me, because I’m not coming back. Not until I can prove that I am indeed different all the other Yellow Zircons.”

The connection ended, and Lars cursed, slapping the buttons again as everyone was demanding at once for him to figure this out and get Yellow back on board. Emily was crying loudly as she sat atop Fluorite, wanting her two cents in on the matter.

The screen turned on again, and Yellow Zircon rolled her eyes. “What??”

“Yellow, I’m sorry!”

“YOU GET MY SHIP BACK HERE IN ONE PIECE OR SO HELP ME I’LL-”

“ _ Relax _ , I know well enough how to drive this! I mean, sure I don’t know what this handle is for right here, but I can figure it out. Like I told you, I’m smart!”

“Yellow please come back!” Blue pleaded, but her voice was drowned out by the loud crying of Emily, which made everyone go silent for several seconds.

Yellow pointed at Emily on the screen, managing to quiet her. “Baby. You’re pear-shaped.”

The call cut off again with a sharp sparking noise, and Lars tried to connect again, only to receive static.

“Wh-?! THAT BANANA SLUG CUT THE TRANSMISSION CONTROLS!!!” Lars just about blew a gasket. “THOSE WERE STATE OF THE ART!!!”

“Y-You mean she’s gone?!” Blue looked ready to burst into tears, Ronaldo quickly offering a gentle hand on the shoulder.

“Wh-? Oh, no, I can track her still,” Lars grumbled, pulling it up on radar. “See?”   
  
“Oh…okay. But that doesn’t mean she’ll forgive me...” Blue whimpered in discomfort, biting into her lip and staring at the ground. “I’m going to...go to our-uh, my private quarters then.”   
  
Ronaldo reached a hand out to stop her from turning away, but it didn’t even touch her shoulder. She slowly dragged her feet toward the room she shared with Yellow, hanging her head as she did so. For a moment after she’d shut the door, everything was silent.   
  
“Oh no!” Padparadscha gasped from behind. “Captain! Yellow Zircon is going to steal your personal shuttle after a heated argument with Blue Zircon!”   
  
“Thanks,” Lars groaned, intently watching the dot on the star map. “If she crashes that thing, I swear I’m gonna-wait. Where the hell is she going!?”   
  
Ronaldo shook his head. “I have no idea. She’s apparently been trying to find out where all the other Zircons are locked up so she can save them. I think she finally had it figured out, but Blue started yelling at her, and-”   
  
“Captain!” Rhodonite gasped in horror, her eyes glued to the map.    
  
“What is it?”   
  
“L-Look where she’s taking the ship!” the fusion panicked, her bottom set of eyes shutting tight in terror.   
  
“Oh no…” one of the Rutiles piped up.   
  
“Why is she going there?!” her twin asked.   
  
The captain studied the map and noticed that his personal shuttle was currently heading toward a maroon-colored planet full of holes. “That’s...a planet alright.”   
  
“ _ That’s  not just  a planet, _ ” Flourite’s voice sounded behind him. “ _ That’s  Alpha Prison  9. _ ”   
  
“It’s the most high-security prison in Homeworld,” Rhodonite explained with a shudder. “It holds criminals due to be sentenced by the Diamonds who frequent the area to check up on them.”   
  
“If Yellow goes there…” a Rutile spoke.   
  
“The Diamonds could find her,” the other added with a shaky breath.   
  
Emily responded with a squeak of worry, cowering down and trying to hide her face in the fluff around her neck. Lars picked up on her fear and gently took her in his arms.    
  
“Sooo...are the other eight just as bad?” Ronaldo asked Rhodonite, but his question was ignored.    
  
“Fuuuuu...I mean, uhhhh, fiddlesticks,” Lars caught himself, not wanting to curse in front of Emily. “I guess that’s where the other Zircons are stowed away, huh?”   
  
“It’s likely,” Rhodonite informed him. “That Olivine Pearl we met back at the prison planet acted like the whole cut of gem was in a world of trouble.”   


“Well, until we can figure out our own plan, the best we can do is keep Yellow’s location on radar. If anything suspicious comes up, Ronaldo and I will go together to find her. We can get past any scanner in this galaxy.” Lars clapped his hands together triumphantly. “Everyone on board with that?”

The rest of the crew nodded in agreement, and Lars looked to Ronaldo with sympathy. “You’ll go tell Blue, right?”

Ronaldo looked at the door of the room both Zircons once shared and sighed. 

“Yeah.”   
  


_ Did she make you cry _

_ Make you break down _

_ Shatter your illusions of love _

_ And is it over now do you know how _

_ Pick up the pieces and go home. _ __   
  
  


 


	15. Hold Me

_ I don't want no damage _

_ But how am I gonna manage with you _

_ You hold the percentage _

_ But I'm the fool payin' the dues _

 

“And then, after I spent all that time getting the dress ready and making sure everything was perfect, I came back, and he’d just left me there at the altar!” Emerald threw her hands up in the air angrily. “What kind of respectable captain does something like that?”   
  
Bloodstone looked at her with an awkward smile. “Emerald...are you sure you know what the word marriage means?”   
  
“Oh, I do now,” she huffed. “I no longer desire anything of the such with that rogue. But it was still rude of him to do that to me!”   
  
“Ah. Agreed.”   
  
It was the middle of the night and most of the crew had gone on break or to take a “nap,” whatever that meant. Bloodstone had described it to Emerald as closing your eyes and resting your body, but that wasn’t something the ex-elite had ever heard of. However, she had agreed to try it one day. Not now though. The two had ended up staying up for a few more hours, swapping stories and generally, as much as Emerald hated to admit it, enjoying one another’s company.   


“Hey! So, I just got the computers all set up!” Bloodstone chirped cheerfully. “Next step is to get the engines working and connected, and then we can go from there onto getting the lower half of the ship constructed.”

“Oh! Good!” Emerald nodded with approval and felt an immense satisfaction to summon the gem tech screens for the computers, logging in all her information. “Are they connected to the networks?”

“Should be!” Bloodstone smiled as she grabbed tools to work on the engine. “You can test it out if you want!”

Emerald grinned as she leafed through the contacts she’d had connected with her previous ship and checked out the rest of the computers’ functions. She was glad its search engines were working too. Doing research on whatever she could think of was one of her favorite ways to pass the time.

Hearing the soft cheery humming from Bloodstone in the distance as she worked, Emerald drummed her fingers to her jaw in bored thought as she tried to think of something to learn about. The humming eventually sparked an idea.

“Computer. Tell me about Bloodstone.”   


The freckled gem perked at hearing her name and looked over to Emerald, who gave a leisurely smile in return.

“I just want to learn more about you. For curiosity’s sake.”    
  
Emerald was typically pretty good at remembering gems’ roles back on Homeworld, but she was a bit out of it from going so long without being exposed to any gem that wasn’t a Citrine, Sodalite, Aquamarine or Off Color. Bloodstones were often not gems she had to deal with, so she couldn’t quite put her finger on what they did. Emerald wanted to know everything this new gem she’d found herself strangely drawn to was capable of.    
  
“O-Oh!” Bloodstone smiled for a second, but soon her expression changed to one of shock. “Actually, w-wait a second. That might not be a good idea-”   
  
A light flashed upon the computer screen, and a page of information displayed before the two. Emerald looked on in awe at what appeared to be a picture of another Bloodstone. However, something seemed a bit different. This one’s gem was more circular than the Bloodstone she’d come to know, and she had a much different outfit and hairstyle. If she’d been any other color, Emerald might have not even known they were the same gem.    
  
“Interesting,” she mused. “You looked like that once?”   
  
“Uhhh...yeah,” Bloodstone spoke meekly, looking away from the screen. “But I changed my appearance when I left Homeworld.”   
  
“Interesting.”    
  
Emerald nodded and began to read the screen in front of her out loud. “Bloodstones are a class of gems designed to repair and maintain Homeworld machinery and technology, including ships, computers, limb enhancers, excetera. These gems are made to display significant intelligence when it comes to machinery, as well as strength and endurance. They are a rather common class and overall have a low defectivity rate.” The green gem laughed softly. “Well, that’s always a plus. Not the same can be said for us Emeralds, but I guess that just makes me more important.”   
  
“Yep…” Bloodstone was becoming visibly uncomfortable, although unbeknownst to Emerald who continued to read from the screen.   
  
“Hmmm...appearance, origins, yadda, yadda, yadda...a-ha! Here we go!” She zoomed in on a particular section of the page. “Uses! Let’s see what all you can do with that gem of yours, shall we?”   
  
“E-Emerald, we really shouldn’t be-”   
  
“One feature in particular that Bloodstones are designed with is exquisite arm strength so they can easily lift large objects during repairs and work with their hands for an extended period of time without exhaustion.” Emerald smirked happily. “I guess climbing trees should be included with that, huh?”   
  
“Heh. Guess so...” Bloodstone tried to laugh, but it was clear something was bothering her.

“Ooh, here's something interesting! You worked alongside Bismuths to develop buildings and residences on Homeworld. And your gem can weld metal! That's amazing! Your kind was crucial to building the royal Palanquins!”

Emerald noticed Bloodstone staring blankly at the arc welder in her hand. 

“So you don't even really need that silly human thing,” Emerald chuckled. “You can just weld it with your gem!”

“Ah...yeah,” Bloodstone swallowed, face going pale. “I...totally could. Forgot about that.”

“Let's see how it compares to the manual tool.” Emerald kicked back with a genuinely interested look. “I've never seen your gem’s abilities in action.”

Bloodstone stared a hole right into the floor. “M...maybe later. I don't feel up to it.”

“Oh don't be so modest! Getting this ship built would be a lot more efficient if you put your gem to use!”

The mechanic stood up, staring at Emerald with fear.

“Are...you alright?” She frowned in confusion.

Bloodstone looked ill for a moment and suddenly fell back on her knees, coughing and gasping and choking into her hands in a panic.

“Bloodstone?!”   
  
Before Emerald could say or do anything else, the gem kneeled in front of her started sobbing. She buried her hands in her face as if trying to hide the display but loud sniffles and chokes could still be heard. Emerald had no idea what to do or how to respond.   
  
The last time someone around her had started crying was back when Aquamarine threw her in a cell with the hideous Off Color captain, and he’d bawled his eyes out over how hard his life was or something. Back then, it had been easy to falsely comfort him for the sake of getting him to shut his trap, but this felt different. Seeing the gem she’d spent so much time with here on Earth crumble before her like that made her insides twist with...something. Was this what sympathy felt like? It was weird. She had to get her to stop just so the awful sensation in her gut would.   
  
Emerald cleared her throat and walked over to Bloodstone, breathing in hard through her nostrils before speaking. “Um...Bloodstone, are you okay? Is welding metal with your gem really hard or something? Should I have not asked you to do that? Because-”   
  
“N-No,” Bloodstone cut her off, voice weak with tears and still not looking her in the eyes. “It’s not that.” She choked back a sob again and spat out the next two words as if they pained her to say. “I can’t.”   
  
Emerald scowled. “Are you kidding me!? You can climb  _ trees _ , Bloodstone! I’m not going to let you act that way after you hounded me to believe that _ I  _ could do anything if I set my mind to it! You can’t just put that idea in my head for even a fraction of second and-”   
  
“You don’t understand,” Bloodstone interrupted, still staring at the floor and biting her lip in an attempt to stop the tears. “I actually can’t. I-I’ve tried so many times…” She clenched her fists and brought one up to wipe the teardrops from underneath her visor.   
  
The gears in Emerald’s head began turning when she got an idea of what Bloodstone was trying to tell her. “Wait. Y-You don’t mean…”   
  
She nodded. “My gem is defective.”   
  
For a few seconds, Emerald had no idea how to respond and only stared at the other in awe. “B-But...you said you were on Homeworld! They wouldn’t have kept a defective Bloodstone! They would have-”   
  
“They didn’t keep me,” Bloodstone spat, finally looking at Emerald with bloodshot eyes. “I was dumped here when they found out. Everything I told you and the others about betraying the Diamonds is just a story I made up so the rest of the crew wouldn’t know I was defective and treat me like an outcast and hate me and-”   
  
“So you lied to me!?” Emerald raised her voice, her initial response to the news being a surge of anger. However, when she saw how Bloodstone reacted to her outburst, tensing up and flinching as if she was expecting her to hurt her, all the fury in her melted away and turned to the wretched gut-twisting feeling from earlier except ten times worse.    
  
“I-I’m sorry. I just didn’t want my friends to abandon me like Homeworld did...” Bloodstone buried her face in her hands. “I’m so stupid. I should’ve known someone would figure it out eventually. I’m sorry...”   


Emerald stared down at the other gem for several long moments, looking more or less displeased, but she glanced away as she felt an odd sense of pity for her. Looking back, her gaze sharp but not piercingly so, she took in a deep breath through her nose and sighed.

“I don’t appreciate being deceived, Bloodstone.”

“I’m sorry,” she squeaked again.

“But...I’m have to say that I’m rather impressed with you.”

Perking up suddenly, Bloodstone stared at Emerald with tears in her eyes. “Wh-what?”

“Normally, a defective gem would prove absolutely worthless to any purpose they were made for. And you should consider yourself lucky that you weren’t shattered upon emerging,” the rogue gem sniffed with a cool look.

Bloodstone glanced down at her knees for a moment, wiping away her tears on her arm and looked back up again.

“Not only that, but you’ve been able to adapt to this planet and be a competent leader of other...misfits.” Emerald decided that was a less harsh word. “And you’re able to complete tasks your kind was made for without use of your gem. That...certainly makes you much more useful than some of the others I’ve worked with who waste their talents and do nothing of value.”

She stiffly offered a hand out to help Bloodstone back on her feet. “And...you climb trees better than I can, so that counts for something.”

A bright blush was on the freckled gem’s face as she stood up with Emerald’s help, and her eyes were sparkling in awe. “You...mean that?”

“Just don’t disappoint me, and we’ll call it something to be looked over.” Emerald tried not to appear too merciful. 

Bloodstone’s eyes welled up again as she choked out a laugh, and suddenly lunged at Emerald, pulling her in a tight hug. “Oh my gosh, you’re...really nice Emerald. Thank you!”

“Er. Yes. Please let me go.”

“O-Oh, sorry!” Bloodstone yelped, stepping back, and her smile faded into an expression of worry. “Just...please don’t tell my crew about any of this. I don’t want them to-”

“I’ve already forgotten about it,” Emerald spoke as if none of this mattered, waving off the request. “Just rebuild my ship as normal.”

“R-Right!”   
  
A rather lengthy moment of silence was shared between the two. At first, Emerald didn’t look in Bloodstone’s direction, but after a while, she peaked over to find the other gem sitting on the floor and fiddling with the tools in her hands rather than making any attempt to fix the ship. She frowned. Part of her was upset because her ship wouldn’t get fixed with the main mechanic of the group doing nothing but sitting there and spinning a wrench in her hand. Another part of her was troubled by the image for another reason, but she chose to suppress that. Perhaps more comforting was needed, but she would be doing it only to make the process of getting her ship fixed quicker. That was it.   
  
An idea crept its way into the ex-elite’s head. Of course, it would be risky and could result in her being poofed at best. But right now, she’d do absolutely anything to stop Bloodstone from moping on the floor for the next few decades over something she’d agreed to forget about. She’d just have to take the chance.   
  
She sauntered up to the mechanic, clearing her throat to get her attention. “Heeeey, Bloodstone.”   
  
Bloodstone turned to face her, but her eyes were pretty much void of any expression. “W-What is it?”   
  
“I want...to show you something.” She grabbed the other gem’s wrist. “Follow me.”   
  
“O-Okay-whoa!” Bloodstone was cut off as Emerald started to practically drag her out of the cave, running as quickly as she could. They were soon outside, and Emerald rushed through the forest with her hand still gently grasped around the other’s wrist. Finally, she stopped.   
  
Catching her breath, Bloodstone noticed that Emerald led her to the tree they’d climbed together, as well as the one she’d planted herself. “I-I don’t get it. I showed you this tree, and-”   
  
“No!” Emerald stopped her from speaking. “I wanted to show you this!”    
  
Without hesitation, she leapt onto the tree and began to make her way up the branches at a rapid pace, not even looking down once and remembering what Bloodstone had told her. The mechanic looked on in pure fear for a moment, and when Emerald passed the section they’d left off on last time, she couldn’t help but start to climb after her.   
  
“Emerald, wait!” she called. “You’re gonna fall and hurt yourself!”   
  
“No, I’m not!” Emerald spat back from a few branches above, still semi-cautiously climbing upward. “Just you watch! I’m gonna beat you to the very top of this tree!”   
  
Suddenly, Bloodstone stopped worrying and got the idea of what she was trying to do. A sly smile made its way onto her face, and she started to move faster. “Heh! I don’t think so!”

Before Emerald could even reach the next branch, Bloodstone was already meeting foot with her on the one she stood, nimbly scaling up the tree faster than Emerald could even comprehend.

“Wh-! Well at least let me have a head start!” Emerald complained, climbing after her.

“I already gave you one, and I’m still kicking your butt!” Bloodstone laughed from two branches above.

Emerald scrambled up the tree as fast as her inexperienced self could, only slipping up once but managed to make it to the third to last branch, only to see Bloodstone on the one above her, smirking playfully.

“What?”, Emerald huffed, “You beat me and want to gloat?”

“Nope.” Bloodstone offered a hand down. “I figured we could both reach the top together.”

Emerald was trying to catch her breath, and snickered. “So you’re going soft on me?”

“So sue me.” Bloodstone gripped Emerald’s hand as she helped her up.

Once they were both seated on the top branch, Bloodstone sat down, swinging her legs over it as she got comfortable and patting the spot next to her. “No sense in going down without at least getting a good look at the view.”

Emerald carefully placed herself beside Bloodstone. She did her best not to look straight down and get nervous but rather look out over the whole horizon.

“Pretty cool right?” Bloodstone smiled, staring with familiar content at the large map of forest and what looked to be mountains in the misty distance. 

When Emerald looked along the horizon further, she saw the twinkle of lights peaking in the shade of dusk as the sun had since set. “What are those lights?”

“Human civilizations. They’re bigger and brighter near the cities. That one over there’s a pretty small town.”

“I sort of expected humans to be more...primitive.”

“Compared to all the cool technology we have, it’s...simpler for them, but they’ve come up with some pretty cool stuff. Like TVs and little portable transmission devices you can play games on-”

“Homeworld can do all that.”

“Oh? Well...cool.” Bloodstone beamed, looking at the evening sky. “....Wow. The moon is pretty big tonight.”

“That moon?” Emerald chuckled. “Oh, compared to the one’s I’ve seen, it’s puny.”

“Well, it’s the only one I’ve ever remembered seeing,” Bloodstone admitted with a weak chuckle. “You’ll have to show me other ones when you take us up there in your ship.”

Emerald almost forgot about that lie. “...Yes, I suppose I will.” She glanced at the smaller gem, giving her what she hoped was a genuine smile.

Bloodstone smiled back in a way that made Emerald’s chest and face feel that strange warmth again but also made her want to stare furiously at the moon to avoid thinking about it.

After a long time of staring at the night sky in silence, Emerald almost jolted as she felt something rest against her side and turned her head to see Bloodstone leaning on her. She was about to comment on it but noticed that same stupid docile smile on her face that made her feel those stupid warm feelings again, and her eyes closed contently.

“Er...Bloodstone?”

“Hmmm?” The other gem looked up at Emerald with wide eyes that made her insides feel like they were melting. She didn’t have it in her to question this.

“Uh...never mind.” 

The two gems sat like that for what felt like hours, watching the stars and as much as Emerald still didn’t want to admit it, really enjoying one another’s company.

 

_ Hold me, hold me, hold me... _   
  
  



	16. Touch Me

_Come on, come on, come on, come on_  
_Now touch me, baby_  
_Can't you see that I am not afraid?_  
_What was that promise that you made?_  
_Why won't you tell me what she said?_  
  


Even though it had only been three days, it felt like three weeks since Yellow Zircon went rogue from her own crew and stole her captain’s personal shuttle. And even though everyone else was trying to operate like normal, the tension was thick and choking.

Ronaldo had tried to get Blue to open up, but she refused to leave her room. He broke in one time to make sure she was indeed okay, and he felt like it just made things worse when she screamed and cried at him to leave her alone.

Lars tried to be comforting to Ronaldo, but it was hard when he had a crew to attend to, as well as an infantile gem. He’d been watching his boyfriend fret near Blue Zircon’s door for close to four hours that day when he decided something needed to break the cycle. Giving Emily to Rhodonite and Fluorite, he went over to Ronaldo and gently took his arm.

“Hey, um,” he began, “let’s go in our room a sec.”

“What?” Ronaldo’s voice was dead and tired, but he didn’t argue, following Lars inside and watching him close the door.

“What is it?”

“Well...it’s been a while since we’ve uh…” Lars went a darker pink in the face, “had some time together.”

“...We see each other every day.”

“I-I don’t mean that. I meant uh…”, he flushed again, “y’know….”

The message clicked in Ronaldo’s head, evidenced by the blush on his cheeks. “O-oh...well...I don’t know if we really sh-”

“I think we need to.” Lars looked at him. “Things are tense as hell on this ship, and they’ll only get worse in the days to come. It might help make things a little...easier.”

“Hmmmm…” Ronaldo thought for a moment and finally nodded his head in agreement, smirking a bit as well. “Oh, why not? If anything’s gonna cheer me up, I suppose that would be it.”  
  
“Heh,” Lars snickered with a smile, pulling Ronaldo closer. “C’mere, you.”  
  
The two embraced one another and began to kiss passionately, Lars running his arms all over his boyfriend’s back. Ronaldo gently pinned Lars to the bed while they were kissing, breaking it for a moment to stare into his lover’s eyes. He looked so beautiful underneath him. Not that he didn’t look amazing all the time. A small giggle left Ronaldo’s throat, and his cheeks heated up with magenta blush.  
  
“What are you waiting for, lovebird?” Lars teased, snickering. “Just take my shirt off already so we can get this show on the road.”  
  
The first mate’s smile widened, and he felt his heart thud against his chest excitedly. “Aye, aye, captain.”  
  
He leaned over to give Lars another kiss, his hands tracing the end of his shirt and eventually helping him pull it over his head. Once it was off, they didn’t take long to return to kissing. The captain ran his hands up Ronaldo’s shirt, tracing his boyfriend’s spine which made the first mate shudder on top of him and sigh pleasantly in the kiss. Things were started to get really heated, but then…  
  
“Captain!” A loud knock on the door startled both boys from their current position.  
  
“Are you in there?”

Lars groaned and reached for his shirt. After putting it over his head, he exited his room with a silent apology to Ronaldo. “Yes?”

“We’re low on fuel, and there isn’t a place on our current trajectory that has a designated fueling station,” one of the Rutiles said.

“We’d have to either turn back to a previously passed planet or take a detour,” added her twin.

“Ah, great,” Lars sighed. “Ummmm...okay, you two figure out which option would waste less time getting to AP 9 and navigate us in that direction. I trust your judgement.”

“But shouldn’t you oversee the-”

“Nah nah nah.” Lars waved them off, trying to appear laid back and calm and not overly eager to rush back in his room. “You two are double brain power. You got this.”

“But-”

“You. Got. This.”

“W-well, alright, Captain,” the twins nodded. “Thank you for your insight.” They then walked back to the galley.

Lars let out a sigh of relief and entered his room, shutting the door. He was surprised to see that Ronaldo had taken his own shirt off and turned on his cassette player to some music to enrich the mood.

“Well, well, well!” Lars flashed a devious smirk. “You didn’t waste any time. Sorry for the interruption.”

“Oh don’t even mention it.” Ronaldo leaned on the bed with a smug grin. “Ready to get back to business?”

“You know it,” he purred, climbing onto Ronaldo’s lap to kiss him eagerly and get some tongue in on it.

But right as he peeled his shirt off, another hurried knock was on the door.

“Yes?” Lars sighed with irritation.

“Captain!” Padparadscha’s voice chimed. “I have received a vision that we are going to run low on fuel!”

“Thanks, Padparadscha! The Rutiles will figure it out!” Lars called as politely as he could. “You can go back to your post now!”

Lars waited for about a minute to make sure the Sapphire had indeed left and turned his attention back to Ronaldo. “Now, where were we?”

“You were going to rip your shirt off like a wily animal?” Ronaldo teased.

“I can’t afford that.” Lars pulled his shirt off, tossing it far aside and rolled back onto the mattress to let his boyfriend climb over him and tent him with his larger frame, giving him lots of eager kisses.

“Oh baby….” Lars moaned. “I missed this.”

“I know.” Ronaldo kissed him hard and sloppy on his neck. “I did too.”

“Oh...baby,” Lars whimpered as the attention grew more and more pleasant and heated. Ronaldo didn’t respond, more invested in marking every inch of his lover’s body with kisses and affection. It was great. All he could hear was the music, the sound of lips on skin and Lars’ soft whimpery noises.

And then stomping outside the room, Rhodonite shrieking and Emily crying.

“Oh…! Baby!” Lars yelped, sitting upright upon hearing Emily’s wails. “Baby’s crying. What’s going on out there?”

“No, no, no, Mister Mom, just let Rhodonite and Fluorite handle it,” Ronaldo mumbled. “They can-”

“Captain!” Rhodonite yelped from behind the door, knocking on it rapidly.

“ _We  need  some assistance…._ ”  
  
Lars groaned. He got to his feet reluctantly and grabbed his blanket, wrapping it around him like a giant cape. “I’m coming!” God how he wished he was saying that in a different context.  
  
When he opened the door, he saw Rhodonite anxiously holding Emily a few inches away from her body. Fluorite was behind with a concerned look on her face. “She just started crying, and we tried everything to get her to stop, but she just won’t!”  
  
“ _Please,_ ” Fluorite groaned, holding her hands up to her ears, “ _make  it stop._ ”  
  
Lars started to reach his hands out to take the small gem but realized that his blanket would fall off if he did so. Grinning nervously, he racked his brain for an answer. Thankfully, one came to him soon.  
  
“You know how to work the tape deck, right?”  
  
“Uhhhh…” Rhodonite looked a little confused. “I think so?”  
  
“ _Don’t  you just  press a lot  of buttons?_ ”  
  
“Yeah, you got it!” He clapped his hands together. “Well, there’s this one song she really likes on there that gets her right to sleep. It’s called uhhh...do you remember any song names?”  
  
The two gems look at each other and shrugged.  
  
“Alright, alright. It goes like...uhhhhh…..” The captain tried his best to hum the main chorus of Danny’s Song by Loggins and Messina, hoping his crew mates would recognize it. His voice wasn’t the best, and the fact that his mind was elsewhere didn’t help.  
  
Finally, Fluorite perked up. “ _I  know  that song!_ ”  
  
“Awesome!” The captain sighed in relief. “Just put that on for her! It knocks her right out, I swear!”  
  
“But, aren’t you going to-”  
  
“Good luck!” Lars shut the door before Rhodonite or Fluorite could stop him from doing so, then paused after a sudden thought and opened it again. “And tell Padparadscha I’m already aware!”

He just about slammed the door and threw the blanket off as he hurried back over to the bed. “Alright, no more interruptions!” he declared to Ronaldo, gaily leaping onto the mattress and pulling him down on top of him to make out eagerly.

For once, they managed to get almost all of their clothing off and were getting well acquainted and cuddly under the blankets. Lars told Ronaldo that he regretted not having any flowers or candles for the mood.

“Eh, save it for Valentine’s Day,” Ronaldo laughed. He was about to take things another step further when a meek knock tapped on their door.

“Damn it!!”, Lars panted, out of breath and face dark with blush.

“Uh...hello?” Ronaldo called as politely as he could.

“...It’s me,” a tired, sad voice said.

“Blue?”  
  
“A-Are you in there? I...don’t want to intrude on anything, but-”  
  
“Hold on!” Ronaldo gave Lars a quick kiss on the cheek and got up from the bed. He picked up the blanket and wrapped it around him like his boyfriend had done earlier. His boxers were still on so it was good enough.  
  
Lars, however, wasn’t going to let him get away that easily. “What the fuck, Ronnie!?”  
  
“She’s been in her room for days!” Ronaldo hissed. “I need to talk to her.”  
  
“B-But...we were gonna...I’m...c-can’t it wait!?”  
  
“I’ll be quick, I promise! Just sit tight, okay?”  
  
The captain narrowed his eyes for a while before groaning in defeat. “Fine. But if you take more than five minutes, I’m gonna jerk off on your pillow.”  
  
Ronaldo gave him a disgusted look. “Please, Lars, don’t do that. We don’t have a washing machine.”  
  
“Should I come back later?” Blue’s quiet voice chirped from behind the door.  
  
“N-No! I’m here!” The first mate rushed to the door, making sure the blanket was wrapped securely around his body before opening it. 

Blue Zircon didn’t even question the odd state of dress the human was in, staring at the ground as she sadly thought over the state of affairs, arms crossed closely to her chest.

“What’s up?” Ronaldo asked.

“...Yellow must hate me now, huh?” Blue mumbled. “Why else would she have cut off contact with us? Run away? Stole the Captain’s ship?”

“I’m sure she doesn’t,” Ronaldo said with soft sympathy, noticing the visible hurt in the other’s expression. “Maybe she just-”

“She never would have done anything like this otherwise. I mean, maybe I would have if I got angry enough, but her?” Blue shook her head. “Even after joining the crew, she’s always been the one who was more level-headed and methodical. Like all the other Zircons…”

“Well...maybe she was just trying to be different?” Ronaldo suggested, hoping it helped.

Blue didn’t answer. She just stepped away, over towards the window to look out gloomily at the stars.

After a few minutes of silence, Ronaldo heaved a sigh. “Look, we can talk more about this in a little bit if you want, okay? I have to step back inside for a bit and deal with something.”

Not even waiting for an answer, Ronaldo walked into his and Lars’ room, seeing his partner bouncing impatiently on the bed and hugging a pillow.

“Okay, uhhh, we have to make this quick because-”

“Oh no, we don’t!” Lars snapped, visibly frustrated in every sense of the word as he flung the pillow off the bed. He stood up and yanked the blanket back to wrap around himself as he stepped outside, just in time to see his entire crew heading for his quarters to address him with their various problems. They all stopped in their tracks when they noticed their captain standing in front of them with fire in his eyes.  
  
“Okay,” Lars spoke shakily, keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around his body, “we gotta clear something up here. I know you all have issues you need help with. I get that. We all do. But I want to ask you politely to...please...keep it down because...I’m...” the captain inhaled deeply and shut his eyes before exploding at his crew, “I AM TRYING TO SLEEP WITH MY BOYFRIEND!!!”  
  
The gems standing in front of the captain all blinked in confusion and stared, shocked by his outburst. Even Emily, who was just getting off to sleep, looked wide-eyed at him and didn’t even start crying.  
  
“B-But, Captain,” Rhodonite piped up, “didn’t you just sleep a few hours ago?”  
  
Lars clenched his fists. “NO, NO, NO! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! I’M TRYING TO FUUUUUUU…” His sentence trailed off when he remembered that Emily was present, and he straightened up slightly, coughing nervously. “I...uh...I mean, I’m tired again! Heh, yeah, I...just...leave Ron and I alone for an hour or two, okay!?”  
  
The crew still didn’t understand what the captain was doing but did know they should probably follow his orders and try not to question it. They all went back to their respective positions, except for Padparadscha who lingered for a bit due to her delayed vision. Finally, she gasped and uttered a small “Sorry, Captain!” before rushing away as well.

He turned on his heel and stomped back into his room, shutting the door behind him and cranking the music up louder. His eyes met Ronaldo’s and he stared, noticing an even thicker layer of blush on his boyfriend’s face.  
  
“...What?”

“Nothing. You're just...r-really hot when you're mad.”

“Well, good. Glad you think so. Now keep me busy with that mattress for the next two hours.”

“Oh gladly,” Ronaldo purred, turning out the lights.

The two hours stretched into four with a nap included. When they both exited their room, having refixed their hair and clothes, they were surprised to see their whole crew in front of the door, silent and horrified.

“Um...what's up doc?” Ronaldo chirped.

“What were you two even doing in there!? We thought you both killed each other!” Rhodonite looked mortified.

“Oh, it was really nothing,” Lars waved off. “Simple boyfriend stuff."

“ _I  was  debating  on forcing  the door down,_ ” Fluorite admitted.

“Well uh, thank god you didn't!” Ronaldo laughed, face flushing in horror at the thought.

“Those noises were awful!” Blue gagged. “What even were those?!”

“Uh…”, Lars began, then saw Emily's eyes widen in fear, “th-that was...my personal music.”

“Pardon?”  
  
“Yeah!” He laughed nervously, hoping she’d buy the cover-up. “Ron and I were thinking about starting a hard rock band, so I played some of my greatest hits that I recorded back on Earth.”  
  
“Oh,” one of the Rutiles said.  
  
“You shouldn’t do that,” her twin followed up, wincing.  
  
“Don’t worry,” Ronaldo replied. “It didn’t work out.”  
  
“It sure didn’t,” Blue chuckled nervously.

Lars gave another awkward giggle and cleared his throat. “Anyway, if anyone has any matters to address with me or Ronaldo, we’re refreshed and ready to help!”

And then, even with the chaos that the future surely told, the ship once again had some sense of normalcy. As the day went on and they sat at their seats of command, Lars and Ronaldo looked at each other with more than a few knowing glances and smiles of content.

  
  
_Now, I'm gonna love you_  
_Till the heavens stop the rain_  
_I'm gonna love you_  
_Till the stars fall from the sky for you and I_  
  


  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	17. Cat's in the Cradle

_ And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon _

_ Little boy blue and the man in the moon _ _   
_ _ When you coming home, dad? _

_ I don't know when _

_ But we'll get together then _

_ You know we'll have a good time then _

 

More days had passed since Yellow Zircon’s sudden departure in Lars’ personal shuttle. Luckily, the Off Colors’ ship could still track her whereabouts. They indicated about a day ago that she’d just landed on Alpha Prison 9. Since then, the shuttle had stayed in the same location, but there was no telling where Yellow herself had gone.    
  
Blue had been conversing with the crew on and off as she normally did, but she was definitely still upset. Sometimes she would steal a few moments away by herself to look out at the stars. No matter how many times Ronaldo or Lars or Fluorite or anyone she went to about it reassured her that Yellow would forgive her, she wasn’t so sure of it. She just couldn’t bring herself to feel like she deserved it. Blue really hurt her, and she’d often think of how she’d take it all back if she could.   
  
The rest of the crew was pretty on edge as well. The Off Colors were extremely worried about the trip to Alpha Prison 9. They’d all agreed to guard the ship while Lars, Ronaldo and Blue Zircon went to look for Yellow and whatever she’d found there. However, the ship wasn’t the only thing that would need intense guarding during the mission.   
  
Lars had become extremely worried about something happening to Emily while they were on the dangerous planet. He’d heard many horror stories passed around the crew ever since he’d brought her on the ship about how Homeworld treated defective gems. Due to this, he’d been spending a little extra time with her over the past few days. The problem was that he already spent a significant amount of time with the gemling, so it just meant that she never left his side. Ever.   
  
Ronaldo was trying his best to get the hang of this whole looking after Emily thing but was still failing to. It wasn’t that Lars spending so much time with her bothered him. He was past that and understood how important she was to his boyfriend. It was just that Ronaldo still couldn’t get used to looking after something like this. Emily didn’t like him as much as she liked Lars at all, and he wouldn’t deny that there was a reason for that. He was just so awkward around her. Every time Lars wanted him to hold her or talk to her or play with her, he’d tense up and eventually get so uneasy that he’d pass her on to Fluorite.    
  
Lars hadn’t seemed to pick up on how uncomfortable Ronaldo was around Emily, or if he did then he never mentioned it and continued to treat him like he was looking after her too. But he didn’t think he was. If he was supposed to be her dad or whatever, he sure did feel like a shitty one. He kept telling himself that maybe it was just something he’d need to get used to, but it was taking a lot longer than he’d like for him to warm up to the little gem. Why did this have to be so hard for him when it came so naturally to Lars?   
  
When the Off Colors reached the prison planet, the captain had been holding Emily in his arms while his first mate sat in the chair next to him, drumming his fingers against the armrest. Blue was looking at the stars as usual and didn’t notice they were landing until the ship started to descend, causing her to leap to her feet and anxiously approach Ronaldo and Lars.    
  
“This it?” she nervously asked the Rutiles.   
  
“Yep.”   
  
“We’re here.”   


Lars took in a deep breath through his nose, and sighed. “Okay.”   
  
He looked down, almost sadly, at Emily. She was chewing her hand, eyes fluttering with drowsiness, hopefully a sign that she was about to nap. But when Lars stood up, she immediately perked up, confused at the sudden movement and sensing a shift of mood in her parent.

“Go back to sleep,” he urged her gently, carrying her to his and Ronaldo’s shared room. “I’ll be ready to go in a sec. I’m just gonna put her down for a nap and grab my supplies bag.”

Once he was in his room, he set Emily down on his side of the bed and underneath the blankets. She gave a confused noise and stared up at him when he tucked her in. Lars sighed, petting her hair.   
  
“Your papa has to go do something that’s too dangerous for you to come with. You’ve gotta stay here and be good, okay?”

Emily gave another confused noise and sad look, reaching her tiny hands out for him.

“Love you too, baby girl.” He smiled, almost melancholy. In the off chance that his paranoid fears did even come close to happening, he didn’t want her to feel alone or abandoned. At least he could trust his crew to take care of her.

He grabbed his supply bag and walked back into the galley. “Emily should be asleep in my room. Check on her after I’ve left, okay?”

“ _ We  will, _ ” Fluorite said with smile.

“Emily is having a hard time falling asleep,” Padparadscha sighed. “She’s going to miss you too much, Captain.”

“I know.” Lars smiled weakly at the Sapphire. “Thanks.”

He looked over to Blue Zircon and Ronaldo. “We should probably get moving. You two ready?”

“Mhm.” Ronaldo nodded, a focused look of determination in his eye.

“...Yes. I am,” Blue Zircon spoke, her gaze still focused out the window. The stars were still visible.   
  
“Then let’s go.” Lars turned around to take one last glance at the Off Colors. “Take care.”   
  
“Good luck out there,” Rhodonite said, patting her captain’s shoulder.    
  
“Thanks.” He nodded to her and the rest of the crew once more, heart still heavy with the thought of having to leave Emily to do something so dangerous. Lars then motioned for his first mate and Blue to follow him and quietly exited the ship, the door closing behind.   
  
Once the three had left, Fluorite found herself instantly going to the captain’s private quarters to check on the little Emerald as instructed. Rhodonite picked up on this and nervously followed her.    
  
“Don’t you think it’s a little too soon to check on her? We don’t want to wake her up and make her cry again.” Rhodonite shuddered at the memory.    
  
“ _ The  captain  is really  worried about  her, _ ” the leisurely fusion said, reaching the door and slowly opening it. “ _ Plus,  we promised  to keep an eye  on…………...oh dear. _ ”   
  
“W-What is it?” Rhodonite craned her neck to see over Fluorite as the other Off Colors crowded around the door’s entrance.    
  
“ _ She’s  not there! _ ”   
  
Rhodonite could feel a lump forming in her throat. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no…”   
  
“You don’t think…” One of the Rutiles looked to her twin, who followed her sentence up.   
  
“There’s no way he could have-”   
  
“Captain, wait!” Padparadscha suddenly warned. “Don’t go! Emily’s stowed away in your supplies bag!”   
  
Rhodonite, the Rutile twins and Fluorite looked at one another, all wearing a fearful expression.

“We’re  _ so _ dead!”

* * *

The trek was longer than any of the three could have anticipated. The terrain was rugged and the paths went just about every which way. They knew to keep wary at all times because it wouldn’t be unlike Homeworld to have scanners and security this far out.

Almost two hours had passed when Lars groaned and leaned against a rocky wall. “Guys, I can’t tell if we’re getting any closer. And my feet are getting sore.”

“We’re about three quarters of the way.” Ronaldo peered outwards. “According to the maps, the next landmark is just over the dunes up there.”

“We’ll have to be careful. There’s no places to hide out there from the scanners,” Blue frowned.

“We’ll be meatshields for you,” Lars reassured her with a wink. “It’s not like the scanners can see us.”

“That’s right,” Ronaldo smiled, determined to get through this. “But before we keep going, I think I need a breather. Hey Lars, can you pass me a water bottle? I’m parched.”

“You got it!” Lars grinned, unzipping the bag, only to scream and almost jump backwards. “HOLYSH-”

“What?!” Blue and Ronaldo crowded him immediately to see what caused the outburst.

Lars was staring in wide-eyed disbelief at his bag, where Emily was peeking out from under the flap, cookie crumbs all over her mouth. She squeaked happily as she crawled out and nuzzled the side of Lars’ boot.

“Sh-she got into my bag?!”

“She ate our rations?!” Ronaldo added with visible displeasure. “I thought you put her in our room!”

“I did!! I don’t know how she got into my bag!”

“Well, what does this mean now?” Blue Zircon frowned. “Do we go back?”

“No! We keep going. We’re almost there,” Ronaldo insisted, grabbing a water bottle with tiny teethmarks on the cap before marching forward.

But Lars didn’t budge. “It’s not safe,” he said as he held Emily to his chest, frowning.

“That’s for you to deal with,” Ronaldo snapped, tone oddly cold and kept walking ahead.

The other two looked at each other, perplexed and hesitantly followed, Lars keeping Emily tucked under his cape. She gripped his shirt tightly as she sensed his heartbeat had quickened in anxiety.    
  
As the group continued to make their way through the planet’s terrain, Ronaldo noticed that Lars was falling behind quite a bit. Emily clung to his chest, and he kept stopping to check on her. This was annoying to say the least. If anything, it was dangerous and scaring the first mate as well.    
  
“Hey, can we pick up the pace a little?” he snarled.   
  
“H-Huh?” Lars looked up, startled as if he wasn’t even paying him any attention. “Oh! Yeah. Sorry.”   
  
Ronaldo said nothing. He just raised an eyebrow and continued to trek forward. Blue cast a worried glance to Lars and then to the first mate himself but did not speak.   
  
However, the captain’s pace didn’t change much at all. He continued his routine of stopping to check on the Emerald or say something to her, always causing him to fall more than a few steps behind. If Ronaldo hadn’t been constantly glancing behind, he could have easily lost him.    
  
Finally, he decided to speak again. “Lars, come on! Get your ass in gear.”   
  
Lars gasped in disgust and did his best to cover Emily’s ears. “Ronaldo! Watch your mouth around the kid!”   
  
“She can’t even understand you,” he grumbled. “Now move a little faster, will ya?”   
  
The captain stayed put, glaring daggers at Ronaldo. “I’m moving as fast as I can with a kid in my arms!”   
  
“Sure you are. Let’s just go.” He rolled his eyes and turned to leave, but Lars’ voice stopped him.   
  
“Why are you being such a jerk?”   
  
Clenching his fists in rage, the first mate turned around. “You really haven’t figured that out yet?”   
  
“No!”   
  
Ronaldo laughed sarcastically. “Oh, I don’t know! Maybe because we are on a dangerous mission in the middle of a hostile planet full of scanners that could blow our close friend and fellow crew member to bits, and you still can’t focus on the mission because of that...t-that  _ thing _ !”   
  
Lars’ eyes widened with rage and shock. “Are you seriously still jealous of her!? After all we talked about!?”   
  
“Oh, come on!” Ronaldo started walking toward Lars angrily and stopped when their faces were level, glaring angrily at one another. “I’m not gonna deal with this right now, Lars. I know you’re the captain, but I’m smart enough to know that there is a time and place for everything. Now stop paying so much attention to that gem and focus on the mission or take her back to the ship, and Blue and I will handle this ourselves!”   
  
“If I don’t pay attention to her, the scanners will detect her gem and blow her to bits too!” Lars held Emily protectively to his chest.   
  
“U-Um guys…” Blue piped up, but she was ignored.

“Then maybe you should have thought of that before  _ letting _ her stow away in your bag-”

“You think I did this on purpose?!” Lars almost laughed incredulously, loosening his grip on Emily as she fitfully squirmed to climb down from his arms and sit between him and Ronaldo, curious why they were shouting so much.

“I mean, I can only assume that you didn’t trust your own crew to watch her and couldn’t bear to leave her out of your sight for one minute-”

“I would never have brought her on a mission like this!”

“Well, you sure did for this one!”

Emily tugged her claws on the laces of Ronaldo’s boot, squeaking at him in defense of Lars.

“GET OFF OF ME!” Ronaldo snapped at her sharply, glaring in frustration.

The tiny gem immediately recoiled and her eyes widened in fear, slowly and stiffly backing away from him.

The tone Ronaldo had spoken with was harsh enough to surprise Lars and Blue Zircon but not nearly as much as it shocked Ronaldo himself. Watching Emily tremble like a leaf, visibly scared as she tucked her head down and tried to back away in the direction of Lars, he felt his anger dissipate and fill his stomach with intense guilt and self-loathing. 

He recognized that look of fear, that reaction of terror. He remembered feeling them as a child when he was the target of rage. Rage triggered by nothing he had any way of controlling or understanding.

“Oh no...god no...I...” Ronaldo held back the urge to vomit, covering his face. His eyes were burning, and his throat was closing in, choking him.

He really was like his mother, wasn’t he?

“R-Ronaldo?” Lars spoke up, visibly concerned at his sudden change in behavior.

“I can’t...I-I can’t…” Ronaldo struggled to spit out his words, but suddenly let his feet carry him off course, back towards the rocky hills they’d just trekked on and out of sight of his confused and panicked crewmates.

“Ronaldo!?” Lars gasped.

“W-Wait! Come back!” Blue Zircon pleaded, but it was on deaf, panicked ears.

He couldn’t lead a mission. He couldn’t use his powers. He couldn’t be a good first mate. He couldn’t be a good parent. He couldn’t even be a good boyfriend.

He couldn’t do anything but screw everything up.

 

_ And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me _

_ He'd grown up just like me _

_ My boy was just like me _ __   
  
  


  
  



	18. Father and Son

_ How can I try to explain? When I do he turns away again _

_ It's always been the same, same old story _

_ From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen _

_ Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away _

_ I know I have to go _

 

It wasn’t his Brooding Hill, but it was certainly providing the same mood down at the bottom of the steep incline Ronaldo had found when running back through the rocks. The stone he sat on allowed him plenty of space to hunch over in turmoil and lament over the previous events.

It wouldn’t surprise him if he spent the next fifty year just sitting in place and letting his sadness and shame swallow him up. He was already guessing Lars wouldn’t forgive him. He’d probably forget him within a week, Blue Zircon within three days and Emily, god hoping she wasn’t traumatized, would not remember him at all.

Ronaldo swore he must have been hearing things when his name was echoing off the canyon walls, and he heard footsteps and rocks shuffling. He shrugged it off. It was definitely nothing. They wouldn’t be coming for him.

“Ronnie?” Lars was calling out.

“Where are you?” Blue Zircon’s voice followed.

Ronaldo perked his head up, hearing the voices call his name but saw nothing approaching him. And the noises soon got farther and farther away.

They wouldn’t find him. Maybe it was for the best.

Sighing, he hung his head again and closed his eyes, regretting so many things and wishing they’d all gone differently. When he opened them a few minutes later, he almost fell backward to see another pair staring at him with cautious curiosity. Catching himself, he sat up again, trying to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

“...Emily?”   
  
A small squeak from the thing in front of him confirmed his suspicions. He shot up, instantly recoiling in shock at what, or who, he saw.   
  
“E-Emily! What are you doing here?”   
  
The tiny gem cocked her head to the side before squeaking happily and trying to crawl up Ronaldo’s leg in excitement. He awkwardly looked to the side. Guess she wasn’t traumatized by his outburst. That was good, but he still felt weird about it himself.   
  
“No,” he sighed, picking her up gently and placing her on the ground next to him. “Let’s not do that. You don’t need to be around me. Go back to your dad.”   
  
Emily let out a small whine in response to being pushed away. Unable to look at her without tearing up again, Ronaldo lay back down and faced away from the little gem.   
  
“Your papa’s probably really worried about you, Emily. You really should go to him. And don’t tell him where I am, okay?” Ronaldo sniffed. “He’s better off not knowing that.”   
  
After a few seconds, the first mate felt something tugging at his shirt. He shifted upward a bit to see the gemling yanking at it, her sharp teeth fastened deeply into the fabric. A gasp left his throat, and he instantly grabbed her, causing her to tear some of his shirt off.    
  
“Emily!” he scolded looking down at the missing piece of fabric. He instantly covered his mouth realizing that he’d raised his voice only a tiny bit and looked away when he saw the change in Emily’s expression.    
  
“Oh no. I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to….you need to go. Now. You shouldn’t be anywhere near me.” A deep sigh left his throat. “I’m a monster.”   
  
Ronaldo got to his feet and dusted his knees off, walking in the opposite direction. If she was going to stay here, then he needed to go elsewhere. However, after a few steps, he felt something leap onto his left leg and sharp claws dig into the skin. The first mate yelped in pain.   
  
“Ahh! What did I tell you!?” He tried to shake her off as gently as he could while continuing to rant. “Please, just leave me alone! I don’t want to hurt you again!” His voice was starting to crack. “You don’t understand now, but you will when you’re older! I’m a horrible parent! Terrible! Awful! Your life will be so much better if I’m not in it! You need to be with Lars, and both of you just need to forget I exist before I ruin your lives like my mom ruined mine!”    
  
That was the last straw. Suddenly, another shock of horror jolted through Ronaldo’s body right as he managed to shake Emily off his leg. He practically collapsed to the floor, unable to hold back the rippling sobs that were shaking his entire body and the tears flowing down his face.    
  
“I-I don’t want you...to e-end up like me…”

Hiding his face in his hands, he just tried to stop the sobs that racked through his body, coughing and sniffling and weeping and not even caring if he was alone now. In fact, if he was, if Emily had just taken his advice and finally wandered back to a parent who knew how to take care of her, things would be going as they should.

He was too overwhelmed to even care when he felt a tiny, fuzzy mass worm its way into his crooked arms, as well as a fluffy collar soaking up the tears on his cheeks. Slowly lifting his hands away, a few tears still dripping from his eyes, Ronaldo hardly reacted when he saw that Emily had put herself in his arms and was staring at him with a worried look.

Ronaldo blinked the tears away, not even trying to shove her away this time. For something so little, she sure showed a lot of understanding.

“You…..you’re really taking after your papa.”    
  
He gave a weak, watery smile, frozen in place. “But it’s not your job to cheer me up,” he sighed. “That’s supposed to be Lars’ and my own.”

And what a horrible job he was doing at it.

“...But...thank you.” Ronaldo wiped his eyes and carefully slid one arm out from underneath her, letting the little gem balance on his lap and other arm.

“Ronnie!” Lars’ voice cried out nearby. “There you are!”   
  
“And he’s got Emily!” Blue’s followed up, sounding relieved. 

Looking over, Ronaldo saw Lars scrambling down the incline, Blue Zircon following close behind. Lars nearly stumbled towards the bottom but caught his footing and rushed over.   
  
“Oh my god, I was so worried!” he almost cried, relieved to see that both his boyfriend and adopted daughter were safe and in one piece.

“Lars I-” Ronaldo looked down at his lap. “I’m sorry-”

“Ronnie, it’s okay.” Lars was smiling with relief. “It’s a stressful mission, and it’s not easy to have a kid along, and I should’ve-”

“Lars, no. I’m sorry, but…” Ronaldo bit into his lip.

“...What?”

Ronaldo drew in a breath, wiping his eyes again and handed Emily over to Lars. “I’m not ready to be a parent.”   
  
Lars’ smile fell, and a deep concern clouded his eyes. “But...wh-”   
  
“I know you really want this, but I just don’t feel comfortable with it yet. It’s like every time I try to do anything with her, I screw it all up, and I can’t shake the thought that I’m just...gonna end up like...” He brought his hands up to his eyes again, trying to hide the tears that were still leaking. “I didn’t want to disappoint you and at least wanted to try but...I can’t, Lars. I’m so sorry.”   
  
“Oh…” Lars looked crestfallen at the confession. He heaved a deep breath and looked down at his feet. It was apparent that what his first mate said had cut him pretty deep. Ronaldo immediately regretted telling the truth and tried his best to cover up for it.   
  
“I’m really sorry, Lars. I know that won’t do much to help but...gah, you really wanted this, and I ruined it for you! If you hate me and want me to go away forever, I-”   
  
“I don’t hate you!” Lars looked stunned that his partner would even hint at it. He managed a gentle smile, putting a hand on the other boy’s shoulder. 

“Ronnie, I could never hate you.” He sighed again. “I guess I really shouldn’t have expected you to be okay with being a parent just like that. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”   
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Ronaldo followed up, wiping away the last of his tears and grinning warmly. “It’s water under the bridge, okay?”   
  
“Yeah.” The captain’s smile slightly fell. “I wonder what we should do with her though…” He looked down at the small gem in her arms, and she gave him a worried expression.   
  
It was Ronaldo’s turn to pat his boyfriend’s back. “Well, just because I’m not ready doesn’t mean you aren’t. I think you’re doing a great job with her, Lars. She really likes you.”   
  
Lars continued to stare into the gemling’s eyes and couldn’t help but find himself grinning again. “You think so?”   
  
“I know so.” Ronaldo nervously drummed his fingers together. “And hey, it’s not like I’ll never be ready. I think I just need some more time to adjust.”   
  
The captain looked back to his first mate. “If you’re sure. I wouldn’t be against helping you if you need it. We can go slow.”   
  
“I might take you up on that offer actually,” Ronaldo laughed, running a hand across the back of his neck.   
  
Lars squeezed him in a tight hug with Emily carefully sandwiched between them, her fingers clinging on his shirt. He had his little family right there, and he wouldn’t let anything get between them.

Except for Blue Zircon screaming a warning of a robonoid coming their way that very second.

“Wh-what is that thing?!” Ronaldo yelped as he saw the floating cone with the eerie red eye.

“Don’t move! This is the thing that killed me!” Lars warned him.

“WHAT?!”   


“I mean, it exploded, but-”

“Lars what do we do?!” Ronaldo yelped.

“Shield Blue from it before it tries to scan her, and I’ll knock it away!” he assured, looking around for some sort of club-like instrument. 

Emily whimpered, unsettled by all the noise and the flying metal monster with the bright dangerous light.

“Don’t worry, Emily. Papa’s got this,” Lars murmured to her, taking off his cape, and swaddling her in it. “Stay in there until it’s gone.”   
  
He put her near Ronaldo and grabbed a loose stalactite. As the machine edged closer towards the three huddled together, Lars swung at it with all his strength and smacked it right in the middle. It was flung wildly backwards into a wall, but instead of exploding on the spot, it ricocheted backward. Lars leaped with a yelp, rolling over to the other three in time to watch it explode right on the ground.

The ground suddenly rumbled violently, leaving them all struggling to stand upright as the tremors continued.

“Wh-what do we do?!” Blue Zircon yelped, stumbling backwards to grip onto a wall.

“I-I don’t know! We-” Lars was cut off as he yelped in horror to see the ground collapsing right under them, opening to a dark unknown.

Emily screeched as she fell with the rubble underneath her. Lars screamed and tried to grab her but lost his footing completely, leaving him to fall along with her.

“LARS!” Ronaldo yelled and tried to lean over and catch an arm or a leg but just ended up leaping down into the pit.

Blue gasped upon seeing them fall, their screams echoing for several long seconds before the canyon went quiet again, and she was left to stare at the darkness that had just consumed her friends.

Lars was scrambling to stay upright in the air as he fell. His hands wildly tried to grab for Emily, who was tumbling and flailing wildly as she remained tangled in his cape. He finally grabbed onto her and shouted, “Ronnie!”

“Lars what do we do?! There’s nothing to grab onto!” Ronaldo panicked.

“Stay calm! Try to land upright or something!”   


“How is that going to he-”   


Ronaldo yelped as he was suddenly suspended in midair by thick, tangled vines, seeing ruins overcome in overgrowth below him several feet. He was relieved for only a second, still horrified to see Lars and Emily continuing to fall, the former completely invested in making sure the fall wouldn’t harm the baby gem.

And then after what seemed like minutes instead of seconds, impact hit.   
  


* * *

Emily ruffled the dust off of herself as she got back on her feet. When the falling had stopped, she’d flown out of Lars’ arms and landed a distance away. Even if she was dusty and confused, she was virtually unharmed.

Lars winced as he regained consciousness. He crawled out from the large pile of dust he’d landed in, rubbing his aching back and looking around to see his whereabouts and more importantly, where Emily was. Seeing her only a few feet away looking like a literal dust bunny, he rushed over.    
  
“Oh thank goodness,” he sighed in relief, pulling the tiny Emerald toward his chest and clinging to her tightly. “I thought Ronnie and I had-wait.” He began looking in every direction, frantically searching for his boyfriend. “R-Ronnie? Where’d he go?”   
  
His call was met with nothing but silence and the sound of wind buffeting through the surrounding walls of stone. The captain’s heart began to thud against his chest as he tried to remember the last time he’d seen Ronaldo, but all his memories of the fall were too fuzzy. He just remembered him being there and telling him to grab on to…   
  
“The vines!” Lars leaned back to stretch his height, wincing at the soreness in his bones. He looked upward in an attempt to see Ronaldo dangling from where he left him, but it was no use.    
  
“Ronnie!” he called again, louder this time. His voice echoed throughout the rocky crevice, but there was nothing yet again. Before he could try once more, something else alerted him.    
  
A strange noise left Emily’s throat. It sounded similar to the squeaks she so often made yet different, almost as if she was trying to spit something out of her mouth.

“Puhhh...pffft…”

Lars immediately felt worry creep up on him. “Emily, are you okay?!” he fretted, looking at her closely to search for any signs of injury. Eventually she glared up at him, locking eyes as she continued to sputter. 

“Puhhh...p-paaaa…”

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Lars whispered as she kept fussing, petting her hair and trying his hardest not to show how freaked out he was. “Once we find Ronnie, we’ll go back to the ship and-”

He was interrupted by a sudden bright red flash, and his blood ran cold as he found his eyes locked on the deathly eye of a robonoid that was quickly running its scanner down his body. Before he could even react, he heard a deep hum as the beam suddenly stopped right where Emily was sat in his arms. Her gem glowed brightly as the robonoid charged its laser, and Lars panicked. Parental instincts immediately settling in, he threw Emily out of the path of the machine and kicked the scanner as hard as he could. 

“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!!!” 

Emily winced as a bright flash and noise engulfed her father and shook the ground enough to make her tiny claws tremble. When the smoke cleared, she perked up to see he’d moved a few feet back from where he was standing and was now lying flat on the ground. She sat in place for several moments, waiting for him to move.

Why wasn’t he getting up?

Creeping closer, she climbed on him. His eyes were closed. Squeaking, she bounced on top of his chest and gave stern chirps for him to wake up. This wasn’t the time for a nap.    
  
No matter how hard she chirped at him, Lars wouldn’t budge. She began to feel like something wasn’t right here, and it made her very nervous. After a while of squeaks that went ignored, she desperately began to make the same strange sound she was before this happened.

“P-Paaaaa…”

She headbutted his shoulder, hoping to get a response but was met with nothing instead. The worrying sensation in her gut seemed to double.

“Paaaaaap…”

Emily’s noises grew more frantic as she was sent into a desperate panic, looking down at Lars’ unmoving face and nudging his chin with her head. When that didn’t work, she didn’t know what else would. Her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t know why he wasn’t waking up, but she wasn’t even sure if he would at all now.

As she crawled into the crook of his neck to curl up and hide her tears, she didn’t even notice his eyes crack open as she sadly uttered out the word she’d been trying so hard to say.

“ _ Papa… _ ”

Lars’ eyes opened fully in shock to hear the word in his ear, soft and sad, and he slowly and sorely sat up. “E-Emily, what did you say?”

When he moved, she immediately leaped onto his chest, staring him right in the eyes as she repeated the word again, delighted that he was awake. “Papa! Papa!”

Feeling his chest flutter, Lars couldn’t stop himself from grinning and pulling her into a tight hug. “That’s right! That’s me!” he laughed. “I’m your papa!”

“Papa!” she beamed, hugging his face with her tiny hands and accidentally leaving a few claw marks, but he didn’t seem to care at all. He was almost in tears of happiness, kissing her on her face and head and laughing.

When he managed to calm himself down, he cradled her in his arms. “We’re gonna go find Ronnie, and then we’re gonna go find our friends, okay?”   
  
“Papa!” Emily chirped triumphantly, looking up at Lars with a smile on her face. However, the smile soon turned to a look of shock. Her eyes grew wide, and she let out a terrified squeak before hopping out of her dad’s arms.   
  
“Hey!” Lars exclaimed, trying to hold onto her but not succeeding. “Where are yo-AHH!”    
  
He was cut off by something rather large crashing on top of him, causing him to fall to the ground with a grunt of pain and surprise. Expecting it to be an ambush of some sort, Lars began squirming wildly in an attempt to free himself of his attacker. When whoever it was finally sat upward, he forcefully lunged at them and did his best to pin their arms down.    
  
He glared down at his attacker, breathing heavily with fury in his eyes. However, when he saw who was underneath him his, expression softened greatly. Looking up at him with his glasses crooked and eyes wide in surprise was no other than his beloved first mate and partner.   
  
“Ronnie!” Lars gasped, glaring into his boyfriend’s eyes for a few seconds before jumping up and blushing.   
  
“Laaaaars!” Ronaldo squealed happily, pulling the captain into a tight hug. “I thought I’d lost you again!”   
  
“Heh, you can’t get rid of me that easily,” Lars teased, giving him a small peck on the lips. “How’d you get down from those vines?”   
  
“I fell,” Ronaldo admitted sheepishly, chuckling. “It hurt.”   
  
“You can say that again.” Lars winced and rubbed his back.    
  
“Oh!” The first mate began looking around. “Is Emily safe? Is she with you? She’s okay, right?”   
  
A small chirp answered Ronaldo’s question, and he soon felt claws digging into his back as the gemling made her way up to sit on his shoulder.    
  
“Ahh!” He cringed a bit at the feeling of her claws in his skin but tried his best not to scare her. “There you are!” He picked Emily up from her shoulder and held her out in front of him nervously. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”   
  
“Papa!” she squeaked, shutting her eyes and clapping her hands together in response to Ronaldo’s kind words.   
  
The first mate felt his face heat up as he realized that she spoke and what she’d said. “W-Whoa! You can talk now! Heh...that...wasn’t the first time she said that word, was it?”   
  
“Nah.” Lars laughed softly, taking the gemling from Ronaldo. “She said it to me few minutes ago.”   
  
“Awwww. She’s so talented!”   
  
Emily chirped happily at Ronaldo’s compliment, clearly enjoying hearing her dad’s boyfriend say such nice things about her.   
  
The captain slowly got to his feet with his small gem daughter cradled in his arms, his first mate doing the same after. “Okay, we gotta go find Blue. Did you see her before you fell?”   
  
“No,” Ronaldo sighed. “I was craning my neck to look for her when the vines snapped.”   
  
“Huh.” Lars scratched his chin in thought. “Should we just assume she never left and try to climb back up?”   
  
“Sounds like a plan to me!” Ronaldo walked up beside Lars, giving him a kiss on the cheek and Emily a pet on the head. “Ready to get moving, gang?”   
  
Emily chirped in agreement, and Lars grinned warmly. “I think we are.”

 

_ It's not time to make a change, _

_ Just sit down, take it slowly _

_ You're still young, that's your fault, _

_ There's so much you have to go through _   
  
  
  


  
  


  
  
  


  
  
  
  



	19. The Way Life's Meant to Be

_ Well I came a long way to be here today _

_ And I left you so long on this avenue, _

_ And here I stand in the strangest land _

_ Not knowing what to say or do _

  
Blue had been wandering around the canyons and caverns of Alpha Prison 9 for as long as she could remember in search of her captain, first mate and their adopted daughter. The eerie silence of the atmosphere, void of any surrounding footsteps or occasional voices. It made the whole situation even more terrifying for her, especially since she didn’t have a shield for any robonoids that might find her now. Her luck had been pretty good with that so far, but knowing it could change any moment made her feel sick. 

However, she knew she couldn’t give up. There was no way Lars and Ronaldo would just leave her stranded on one of Homeworld’s most dangerous planets. If there was one thing she’d learned from her time with the crew, it was that they’d never give up on any of their friends no matter what. The whole reasoning behind this mission in the first place was not giving up on Yellow even though she ran away from them.   
  
_ Yellow… _   
  
The Zircon’s stomach still knotted when she thought of her. She tried not to beat herself up over it, but that was becoming harder by the second. If she’d kept her cool around her partner when she’d come to them with a game plan for the rescue mission, they wouldn’t even be there right now. Instead, the Off Colors would have had time to come up with a more organized plan for getting all of the Zircons off the planet. And of course, she wouldn’t be stranded and in frantic search for her crewmates,  fearing for her life as well as theirs. Needless to say, Blue had learned her lesson. She just hoped Yellow or Star or whoever she was now could find it in her to forgive her.   
  
Groaning, Blue stopped for a minute. She’d found herself in an area of the planet with deep, large crevices throughout the rocky structures surrounding her. It almost looked like a kindergarten, but the holes were far too big. She tried her hardest to listen for the sound of voices, but all she could hear was the occasional gust of wind blowing through the dusty sky.    
  
“Lars?” she called, cupping her hands. “Ronaldo? Are you two around?”   
  
No answer. She frowned. Surely they couldn’t have gone too far. She just needed to go deeper into the planet’s crust, which could either go very well or very...not well.   
  
“C’mon, Blue,” she whispered to herself. “You’re gonna find them! For all you know, they could be right behind you as soon as you turn around.”   
  
A sudden whirring noise was heard from behind the Zircon, and she felt something looming close to her. Hoping for the best, she turned around to find herself face to face with one of the shattering robonoids, its red center staring at her and immediately beginning to size her up. She immediately froze in fear. Her brain was telling her to run, but her body was unable to move.   
  
_ Maybe it won’t find my gem if I cover it up with my hands! _ she thought, quickly plastering her hands over the square-cut gemstone on her chest. Unfortunately, the robonoid was able to scan through her form and alerted her that it did so with a brash mechanical scream.  _ Oh dear… _

Knowing that it would catch up with her even if she ran, Blue shut her eyes tightly and prepared to meet her demise. However, right before she was shattered to bits by the robonoid, something barreled into her and knocked her out of the way. The robonoid’s beam instead struck a small pillar of stone, causing it to split in half.    
  
The terrified Zircon found herself on the planet’s stoney ground with someone hovering above her. She cracked her eyes open, and they slowly made out a very familiar face. Her mouth gaped open in shock.   
  
“Y-Yellow!?”   
  
“Shhhh! C’mon!” The other Zircon silenced her, yanking her hand so that she was on her feet once more and rapidly shoving her into a nearby crevice.   
  
Once they seemed to be in a safer environment, and she was over the initial shock of seeing her partner again, Blue wasted no time in saying what she’d been dying to for days. “Yellow! I am tremendously sorry! I never meant any of those nasty things I said about y-”   
  
“Keep quiet!” Yellow scolded. “It’s still out there.”   
  
The robonoid’s eerie noise could be heard from the distance, causing Blue to shut her mouth. Soon, the other gem’s hands were on her and roughly pivoting her to face away from the entrance.   
  
“If your gem is in the other direction, it’s harder for the robonoid to scan you,” Yellow explained in a whisper. Blue gave a firm nod in response.    
  
They stood like that for a while until the whirring grew closer and closer before eventually fading away. Once they could no longer hear it, Yellow stuck her head out of the hole to look both directions before giving Blue the signal to come out. The anxious Zircon did so, cautiously looking for signs of another approaching robonoid.   
  
Once they’d freed themselves from the crevice, Blue opened her mouth to apologize once more but was cut off this time by Yellow grabbing her arm and rapidly pulling her forward.   
  
“Where are you taking me!?” she asked frantically.   
  
“Somewhere safe,” Yellow replied, right before stopping at a large hole in the ground and pointing to it. “Jump in there.”   
  
“But...why!?”   
  
“Ugh! Just-” The sound of another approaching robonoid in the distance cut Yellow off. She gasped and wasted no time in forcefully shoving Blue into the hole, jumping in after her.

It took Blue several seconds to get adjusted to the darkness of the new environment, but she took immediate notice of the twinkling lights that kept the cavern from being entirely pitch black.

“Star, did you grab another one?” a voice laughed. “I thought they locked you out of the prison completely.”

“Oh, they still did,” Yellow sighed, patting a confused Blue’s back. “This one is mine though.”

“Yellow, what’s going on?” Blue murmured. “Who is-”

“Well, if I live and breathe!” another voice piped up, and a figure stepped out into the light. “It’s Star’s partner in crime, Moon! The one who  _ started _ the revolution!”

Blue Zircon almost opened her mouth in protest but realized she was face to face with another Zircon, an aqua one bearing a friendly grin.

“Nice to meet you in person! I’m Teal,” the other Zircon grinned, forcibly shaking a confused Blue’s hand. “Star here has told us all about you.”

“You sure showed that Yellow Diamond a thing or two!” another called from her spot.

“Seconded, Peach,” a red one piped up.

Blue looked around the entire cavern and saw all the awed faces looking right at her, “You’re...all Zircons!”

“Well, we’re certainly not Pearls!” one joked, and several of them chuckled.

“H-how did you all get here?”

“You should ask Star! She’s the one who busted us out,” Teal said.

Yellow Zircon was looking at her nails with a little too smug of a grin. “What can I say? I did my research. It wasn’t easy breaking into the place, but for the supposed ‘highest guarded prison in the domain,’ you’d think they’d have better protocol for obvious breakouts.”

“But...all the scanners?”   


“You’d be surprised how much human miscellany was in the captain’s little dinghy. I was able to cover my gem under some odd tubular things he’d stowed in there. I think they’re called ‘socks’.”

“A-and the guards?”

“Shapeshifting!” Yellow slung an arm around Blue’s shoulder. “Those quartzes have silt for brains. They have no problem assuming I’m the odd Citrine soldier among five hundred something Amethysts. And the Diamonds don’t seem to be around to spot the difference. They're too busy trying to create new-era gems to replace all of us.”

“You should have seen her, Moon!” one Zircon beamed. “Star was unbelievable!”

“Extraordinary!”

“Unlike any other Zircon I’ve ever met!”

Blue Zircon looked around, seeing all the faces of excitement, then at Yellow, who was grinning from ear to ear. She felt her face grow flushed.

“You two aren’t like us,” Teal spoke again. “You two are different. And we really wish we could be like that too _. _ ”

Smiling ever so slightly through her blush, Blue thumbed her gem with a bit of pride. “Well...I’m sure one day, you all will be once we get you of here.” She looked at Yellow again, smiling even more. “And this time I’ll be along to help.”

Her partner smiled. “Thanks Moon-I mean...Blue.”

Blue thought on the name Yellow had accidentally let slip again, and a smile fell across her lips. “Hey, don’t worry about that. Different gems can know us by different names.” She chuckled. “We can be like...Blue Moon and Yellow Star.”   
  
Although she’d only mentioned the names as a joke, they brought a twinkle of excitement to Yellow’s golden eyes. “Blue, that’s an amazing idea! Sure, Moon and Star are unique, but throw some adjectives in there, and you’ve got real genuine outlaw names!”   
  
For once, Blue had to admit she agreed with her. “Well, that’s settled I guess! In that case, I hereby declare us not merely Blue Zircon and Yellow Zircon, but Blue Moon and Yellow Star.”   
  
Yellow chuckled. “Who said you get to have the final say in it?”   
  
“Oh, please. You literally just agreed seconds ago!”

“So that I did.” The newly-renamed Yellow Star grinned excitedly and pulled the also newly-renamed Blue Moon into a tight hug, nuzzling her neck. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

When the hug was over, Blue looked around to estimate how many Zircons there were, guessing there were roughly over fifty.

“Is this all of us?”

Yellow shook her head. “There are more. But some of them didn’t want to leave...a lot of them actually. They’re still loyal to the Diamonds, and they’re willing to go on trial to make their cases. I couldn’t convince them enough…” She sighed. “We tried our best, though.”   


“Oh,” Blue sighed. “Well...is there anything else we can do here?”

“I’m afraid not. I’d say this is a temporary success. We just have to talk to the Captain about making more rescue missions to the prison planet….speaking of which, where is he?”

Blue looked away to figure out the words to express what happened but was interrupted by the sound of a lime-colored Zircon screeching. She looked down to see a meaty pink fist burst out of the ground next to her.   
  
“AHH!!!” Teal exclaimed in response to the fist, that was now working its way around and trying to create a bigger hole in the soil to get to the gems. “We’ve been caught!”   
  
“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!” Peach exclaimed, but before she or any of the other Zircons could flee, Yellow put a hand on her shoulder.    
  
“Wait a second! I know that fist,” she mused, cocking her head to listen for any possible noises from below. “Be quiet…”   
  
“Are you sure this is the right thing to do?”   
  
“I know I heard Blue’s voice up there! I’d recognize it anywhere!”   
  
“What if it was another Zircon who’s working for the prison and trying to hunt us all down and kill us?”   
  
“The whole point of this mission was that all the Zircons in Homeworld have been imprisoned. How could it be another Zircon?”   
  
“Oh yeah. Still, you’d better be right.”   
  
A small muffled chirp was also heard as the pink fist began to wiggle around violently until it came to a rather uncomfortable looking stop.    
  
“Oh god.”   
  
“What is it?”   
  
“I think my arm’s stuck.”   
  
“Try wriggling it around some more!”   
  
The other voice grunted, but the hand wouldn’t budge. “Uhhhhh...yeah, it’s stuck.”   
  
“Darn. Hmmmm...hold on, Emily.” Another chirp was heard. “Okay, just let me…   
  
“GAH! Ronnie! What are you doing?!”   
  
The second voice suddenly sounded a lot more strained. “I’m...ugggggh...trying to...get you...unstuck…”   
  
“What the heck!? AHH!!! Stop! You’re gonna rip my legs off!”   
  
“Chill, Lars! It’s...ugggh...fine…”   
  
“P-Papa!?”   
  
“Don’t worry, Emily! I’m...trying to get your dad...out of this…”   
  
“You’re trying to tear me in half; that’s what you’re doing!”   
  
“I’ve...almost got it...uggggggh…”   
  
“Ronnie, for the love of-AHHHHH!!!”   
  
As soon as the voice screamed at the top of their lungs, the ground caved in. Star stepped back hastily, grabbing onto Blue’s arm so she wouldn’t accidentally fall and closing her eyes. Once the tremor of the ground falling out had settled down, she cautiously blinked her eyes open and looked down.   
  
Just as expected, the captain, his first mate and the little Emerald they’d taken in were right below them. Ronaldo was laying flat on the ground with Lars sitting up on top of him and clutching his wrist in pain. Emily was only a few inches to their right and was the first one to look up and see the Zircons, squeaking happily to alert the two pink humans.   
  
Upon hearing her chirp, Lars looked upward with a dazed expression on his face that soon softened into a relieved yet exhausted smile. Ronaldo was still staring at the ceiling for some reason.   
  
“Oh great! You found her!” Lars sighed in relief, voice shaking with exhaustion. He brought his hand up to brush some dirt out of his hair.    
  
“Actually, she found me,” Blue laughed. “Are you two okay…?”   
  
“Us? Pffft! Yeah! We’re-ow, ow, owwww-” Lars bit hard into his lip as he tried to bring the hand that had gotten stuck up to give the Zircons a thumbs up, giving up halfway, “just fine! Right, Ronnie?”   
  
“Is that Fluorite you’re talking to?” the first mate asked groggily, still lying flat on his back. “What’s she doing here?”

“...He’ll be fine in a few minutes,” Lars corrected himself and winced as he looked at his hand. “This however, might actually be broken.” He frowned as he noticed the swelling.   
  
“You’d think after falling into a pit, getting knocked out by an exploding robonoid and whatever else I’ve gone through on this mission, I’d have broken something sooner,” he jested, grabbing some sort of sling from his bag. “We’ll use the healing stuff Steven bottled up for us back on the ship….speaking of which, Yellow Zircon, you did tell all these lovely ladies up there the deal with getting them out of here right?”

“Yup, they all have the basics! And uh...it’s not Yellow  _ Zircon _ anymore. It’s Yellow  _ Star _ .” She pointed to Blue. “And that one’s Blue Moon!” The other Zircon nodded in response.

“Noted. Nice choices.” Lars hoisted himself up from the hole, reaching back down for Emily and glanced over to Ronaldo. “You alright, hon?”

“I think I am now,” Ronaldo groaned, blinking as he stood up and climbed up, looking around to see all the Zircons. “Uhhh...actually scratch that, I think I’m seeing double.”   
  
“Nah, you’re good,” Lars informed. 

“So...when did humans turn pink?” Teal asked Yellow.

“And is that an Emerald?” Peach gasped. “What if she reports to the Diamonds about us?”

“She won’t!” Lars assured. “She’s on our side. Izzin dat right bebby?” he happily babytalked to Emily who squeaked in delight and squished his cheeks with her hands.

“That...is really weird,” Peach muttered to a companion, watching the supposed Captain babble cutely to the tiny should-be-elite gem he was holding in one arm.

“So,” Ronaldo cleared his throat, “while we have the opportunity, we have to figure out the best course of action to get you all back to our ship in one piece. Yellow, did you keep Lars’ ship?”

“Oh no, I crashed that thing. Sorry.”   


Lars groaned and rolled his eyes in frustration. “Greaaaat.”   


“But I can assure you it was entirely on purpose and for sake of this mission!”   


“Not helping.”

“I guess we can’t use that for any possible purpose then.” Ronaldo rubbed his chin. “Well, Lars, your portal powers work right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to risk caving this place in with all that screaming if it takes more than two trips, y’know?”

Ronaldo was about to respond with another suggestion but was cut off by the sound of stomps above ground, and many of the Zircons cowered in fear.

“We might have to make it just this one!”   
  
The many Zircons, the two pink humans and the tiny Emerald found themselves huddling in as closely as they possibly could, being careful not to make a sound. Emily was tucked snugly in Lars’ arms, and Ronaldo found himself getting rather close to his boyfriend and the tiny gem he held as he backed toward him. He couldn’t help but smile when he realized that she was looking up at him.   
  
He giggled softly and waved to her, hoping that his cheerful nature would save her from getting freaked out at the footsteps or muffled voices of gems ahead. Her face lit up, and she smiled. Ronaldo took it as doing something right and decided to go a step forward, reaching a hand out to pat the little gem on the head. At first, Emily shut her eyes and beamed, seeming relaxed enough. However, as quickly as the speed of light, she suddenly sank her teeth into Ronaldo’s hand, puncturing it with her claws to keep it level with her mouth so she could chew.   
  
A loud scream caught in his throat. He glanced to Lars, but the captain seemed unaware of what was going on. Gulping, Ronaldo tried his hardest to swallow the pain and not let it get to him. He couldn’t accidentally blow their cover! However, at the exact moment his decision solidified itself in his head, he looked down to see Emily sink her teeth and claws as deep into his hand as she possibly could, a trickle of his blood drizzling down from where her mouth met it. That was the final straw.   
  
“ _ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! _ ”   
  
The moment that Ronaldo’s scream left his mouth, a flash of light covered the area for a few seconds, causing Emily to let go of his hand and shrink away in her father’s arms. When he finally stopped, still panting and immediately clutching his hand, Lars was about to scold him but stopped, looking ahead in awe. Confused, Ronaldo turned his attention in front of himself as well and saw a large portal of white and blue light, beckoning for them.   
  
A smile spread across his face, and he leaped with joy. “Oh my gosh! My first portal!!! Haha! I knew my powers weren’t broken! Yessssss!”   
  
“Congrats!” Lars quickly gave him an approving pat. “Now let’s get moving.” He started forward, but Ronaldo grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.   
  
“Wait a second, I don’t know about this. Are first-time portals safe?”   
  
A gruff voice barked from overhead, startling them. “I heard a scream!”   
  
“And there’s a hole in the ground! They must be under us!”   
  
“It’d be a lot safer than sticking around here!” the captain barked, motioning for the Zircons to follow. “Quick, c’mon! Into the portal!’

Rhodonite was pacing back and forth for the last two hours, trying to ease her anxiety and wait for some sort of prediction from Padparadscha about their Captain, first mate, crewmate and the adopted Emerald. She looked over to Fluorite, who had the little orange gem sat on her back.

“A-Anything you can predict, Pad?”

The gem only looked forward, but soon her features came alive. “OH!”

“What?!”

“I had the most marvelous vision! Captain Lars and the First Mate Ronaldo will reunite with Blue and Yellow Zircon and fifty rescued gems!”

“Th-that’s amazing!”. Rhodonite clapped with glee. “Where are they?!”

Right as Padparadscha opened her mouth to speak, a large portal opened up right over Rhodonite, and she was suddenly rained on by fifty rainbow matchsticks, two pink humans and a green alien baby.

“I predict that they are currently in a cave, planning an escape.”

Rhodonite groaned from underneath the mass of other gems. “Great.”

“Did we get everybody?” Ronaldo spoke from his place in the pile. Yellow’s arm was sticking out of it, pointing and muttering numbers before making a thumbs up.

“Yup! That’s everybody!”   


“Could you all please get off me!? My hand is broken, and it needs that magic fountain stuff Steven left us,” Lars whined, squirming his way out of the pile. Running over to a cabinet installed on the ship, he pulled out one of multiple vials of the healing tears from Rose’s fountain and poured it on his hand, groaning in relief as it took effect. Once he’d finished, he began flexing his hand experimentally.

Ronaldo nervously walked up behind Lars and tapped his shoulder. “Can I have some of that?”   
  
The captain looked to his first mate with confusion. “No? What’s wrong with you?”   
  
“Uh...Emily...bit my hand…” He chuckled nervously. “It hurts really bad…”   
  
“So?” Lars scoffed. “She bites me all the time. I’m sure it can’t be tha-” Ronaldo held out the heavily inflicted hand to his partner, whose eyes immediately grew wide with shock and disgust.    
  
“Holy shit, is that the bone?!” Ronaldo nodded, wincing. “Here, take it!” Lars practically threw the vial at him and shielded his eyes, willing to do anything so he wouldn’t have to look at the horrible wound any more.   
  
While Ronaldo was tending to his hand, Lars felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned to find another yellow Zircon whose hair was styled into a single point. “So...what’s gonna happen to us now?” she asked.   
  
Lars smiled, looking to Ronaldo again who was heaving a sigh of relief as his hand finished healing. “You wanna tell them where we’re going?”   
  
“I don’t know,” the first mate laughed. “I’m a bit exhausted from all that.”   
  
“Me too.” The captain’s glance wandered to the two Zircons fondest to him, standing close with their arms intertwined at the elbow as usual. “How about you two give your friends the good ol’ “we’re going to Earth” speech?”   
  
Blue Moon and Yellow Star beamed in response. “With pleasure,” 

 

_ Just to see your face, instead of this place _

_ Now I know what you mean to me, _

_ And I wonder, yes I wonder _

_ Is this the way life's meant to be _


	20. Close Your Eyes

_ Well it won't be long before another day _

_ We're gonna have a good time _

_ And no one's gonna take that time away _

_ You can stay as long as you like _

 

For some reason, Emerald felt like sitting outside the cave for a while. It was unusual for her to want to bask in the overall underwhelming scenery of Earth, but being cooped up in a cavern all day was doing something to her. She needed fresh air and a moment to think.   
  
The last several days had been somewhat of a blur for her on this planet and definitely a different experience than when she first arrived. When she was first marooned, the days went by so slowly, and it felt like time stopped in its entirety. But now, it was at least four months since she’d gotten here, and it almost felt like it was going too fast for her to comprehend.

She remained cordial enough with the crew of gems she’d been scamming into building her ship for her. Of course, they’d rough-house and sometimes drag her into it. She’d gotten used to it enough to not blow her lid as much when they did, although it was still obnoxious. Yet, it was almost something familiar now.

Bloodstone was a different story. And what frustrated Emerald the most was that she didn’t know why. The freckled gem was annoyingly cheerful, didn’t know when to shut her mouth and seemed to find new ways to distract Emerald from her own thoughts every single day. But for some strange reason, Emerald liked it.    
  
She liked the genuine appreciation Bloodstone had for her, her apparent lack of fear and the leadership she had over the others. And she was pretty sure she needed to get off Earth fast. Thinking about Bloodstone and the time they spent together was giving her symptoms of something she was pretty sure was one of those Earthborne illnesses she’d read up on one day while trying to find Lars’ weaknesses. Flushed cheeks, a warm chest and a knotted stomach were probably connected to something potentially fatal like the “flew” or “marinara.” Or at the very least, an inconvenience.

But Emerald didn’t have the heart to tell Bloodstone to get lost. Or that she intended to stay true to her plans to hoof it back to space alone. Not when her ship was this close to getting done at least.

She’d jolted out of her thoughts with a yelp when she felt a playful tickle on her back and whirled around. “Who’s there?!”

“Sorry to spook you.” Bloodstone greeted her with a warm smile. “I just thought you might want a snack.”

“I don’t eat,” Emerald said, lowering her eye. “I don’t need to.”

“Well, I don’t either.” Bloodstone shrugged. “But I like to anyway. At least take a bite out of one of these. They’re strawberries.”

Emerald looked at what was in Bloodstone’s hands and narrowed her eye in observation. She was bearing small red fleshy things with greenish flecks all over that reminded her of the freckled gem holding them.

“How do you know those aren’t poisonous?”   


“Oh, these? I’ve eaten them loads of times!” Bloodstone popped one into her mouth in one bite. She laughed, chewing it noisily. “See?”

Emerald stared at her in mild estrangement and reluctantly picked one up. 

“If this poisons me, I’ll tell Mal to throw you off your tree.”   
  
“She does that all the time.”   
  
“Oh...huh.” Emerald looked down at the small morsel of food in her hands, narrowing her eyes. Did she really want to do this? She moved her glare back to the gem next to her, grinning widely at her and silently begging her to put it in her mouth. Guess she didn’t have a choice.   
  
Shutting her eyes tightly, Emerald slowly popped the strawberry into her mouth and began to chew it. At first, the wet and mushy texture of the food made her want to spit it out, but when the taste first filled her senses, she became starry-eyed.   
  
“My stars!” she announced, mouth still full of chewed-up berry. “This is incredible!”    
  
“I knew you’d like it!” Bloodstone giggled, giving her a pat on the back. “Now you’re supposed to swallow it.”   
  
She nodded her head and gulped, shuddering at the feeling of the mush sliding down her throat. Despite the amazing taste, she wasn’t too fond of the process of swallowing. She’d have to get used to that.   
  
“Sooooo…” the freckled gem piped up, “want some more?” She held out the rest of the ripe berries and winked.   
  
At first, Emerald wasn’t sure if she should eat any more. Of course, it was one of the most pleasurable experiences of her long and mostly lonely life, but she didn’t exactly know if food had any limits. She should probably do some research on eating before she consumed more than just a single strawberry. She probably should...but she didn’t want to.   
  
“Give me those!” she snapped, grabbing several of the berries and shoveling them into her mouth as quickly as she could.   
  
Bloodstone laughed, watching the green gem devour the strawberries. “I’m glad you like these so much.”   
  
“What?” She turned to Bloodstone with her cheeks stuffed and red liquid dripping from her fangs.   
  
“Nothing.”

Emerald was talking with her mouth full as she examined the last of the strawberries in her hands. Whatever she was saying became completely lost in the amount of berries inside her mouth. She was so fixated on discussing whatever it was about them that interested her that she didn’t anticipate Bloodstone to suddenly approach her and press her lips to her cheek.

Immediately, Emerald was choking on berries, face going bright green with lack of air and sudden emotions.

“O-oh stars! I’m so sorry!!” Bloodstone gasped, speaking a mile a minute. “I didn’t mean to make you-oh dear!”

Once Emerald hacked all of the fruit out of her throat, and she could speak again, she looked at the other with a flushed face. “Wh-what was that for?!”

“I-I don’t know! I’m sorry! Just forget about it! I was just being dumb!”

“W-Well I wasn’t going to say that but...o-oh we should probably go check on my ship’s progress yes?” She immediately tried to change subject.

Bloodstone stared in confusion a second, then it clicked in her head, and she nodded frantically. “Y-Yeah, actually! Lets go do that!”   
  
Emerald leaped up and made her way toward the cave entrance, a slightly shy grin on her face and some smudged strawberry juice around her mouth and on her cheek where Bloodstone had kissed her. The other gem did the same, chuckling nervously before walking behind her. The crew was all standing near the front of the cave as if they were awaiting something.   
  
“Hello, everyone!” Emerald announced as she walked up to the others. “I came to check the progress on my ship. How’s it coming along?”   
  
The Hematites, Mal, Star Sapphire and Ruby all looked at one another, blinking in confusion, then moved their glances back to Emerald.   
  
“I thought she told you?” Mal questioned, motioning to Bloodstone.   
  
“Huh?” The freckled gem looked confused for a bit, before her eyes popped open in sudden realization. “Oh! Yeah!” She turned to the gem next to her. “Okay, Emerald. Shut your eyes-er, eye!”   
  
The green gem raised a brow in suspicion. “And why should I do that?”   
  
Bloodstone gritted her teeth. “Becaaaause we have a surprise for you!”   
  
“Is this some kind of an ambush?”   
  
“No! Just...here, take my hand.” She held her hand out to Emerald with a knowing smile. The ex-elite looked conflicted for a bit, but ultimately sighed in defeat and took it, shutting her single eye as tightly as she could.   
  
“Can she see through her gem?” one of the Hematites whispered to the other, who happened to have an eye gem similar to Emerald’s. Her twin just glared at her in response.   
  
Emerald tried not to fall over as Bloodstone guided her through the cave. The other gem was pulling her quite roughly and quickly, making it hard for her not to fall flat on her face. However, she managed to go the few feet she needed to without wiping out. After a few steps, Bloodstone stopped in her tracks which caused Emerald to come to an abrupt stop herself.   
  
“Okay!” Bloodstone cheered. “You can look now!”   
  
After she slowly opened her eyes, Emerald gasped at what she saw in front of her. Right there, mere inches away from her, was her beloved ship, looking good as new. The other members of the crew surrounded it, clapping and flashing her warm smiles. Even Mal was staring at her with a warmth and approval she’d never seen the fusion give her before. Soon enough, Bloodstone’s face filled her vision as she popped up in front of her face, looking excited as ever.   
  
“We got it fixed this morning while you were outside staring at the sun,” she laughed, nervously adjusting her visor. “Wanna give it a test run?”

Emerald could barely hold in her excitement at the thought of hopping into her ship and speeding off the planet. But seeing their stupid excited smiles, she swallowed it down and winced. “You know...I think it should have its maiden voyage in the morning.  When...we're all rested yes?”

The gems all looked at each other in excitement at the prospect of flying the ship off Earth, and Mal grinned. “Sounds like a plan. We'll fly this baby at dawn!”

Emerald grinned in agreement, even as she felt a deep pit in her stomach.

* * *

It had to have been at least three in the morning when Emerald was certain everyone was asleep and crept into her ship.

Sure, she had become a little bit attached to them, but what sort of crazy gem would she be having a crew of complete rejects that would leave her a glowing target for Homeworld? Those Off Colors were already in enough trouble. She didn't need the Diamonds’ armies after her too.

Maybe she should have left a note? But what would she even say in it? Sorry I led you on for a long time and blasted off into space without you? That wouldn’t blow over well. Ultimately, Emerald decided it would be for the best if she just silently left the crew without anyone knowing when or why.   
  
_ That way it’ll be easier for them to forget about me too. _

She snuck throughout the cave, looking behind her to make sure she wasn’t being watched or followed and moving slowly so her footsteps wouldn’t make a sound. The rogue gem dodged every rock and pebble that could possibly alert the others of her escape until she found herself face-to-face with her ship. Taking a deep breath, she walked toward it as quietly as she could manage. She soon found herself standing in front of the door, only the push of a button stopping her from making a mad dash back to space alone. But something stopped her from reaching out to press it automatically.   
  
Emerald looked behind her one last time, partially because she wanted to see if anyone had caught her but also to take one last look at the cave she’d spent so much time in. Part of her almost wanted to go back and say goodbye to everyone, but the confrontation would make everything worse. Maybe she should at least bid Bloodstone a farewell…   
  
No! Emerald growled, clenching her fists in frustration at herself. She couldn’t go soft for these rejects! Plus, if she did let them come with her, they’d just betray her and lock her up in a cell to take back to the Diamonds like the Citrines and Aquamarine. She was much better off alone, and that was the way it was going to be. Biting her lip, Emerald turned her gaze back to the button that would open her ship’s door and extended a hand to press it.   
  
“Emerald! What are you doing?”   
  
The familiar voice behind her caused Emerald’s hair to fluff up in surprise, and she jolted, running a cold sweat as she processed who had caught her. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she slowly turned around to see Bloodstone, staring at her with a look of utter confusion on her freckled face.   
  
At first, speaking was nearly impossible, but after a few seconds, the green gem found her words. “Why, um...hello there, Bloodstone! I thought you were doing that sleep thing you told me about with the others.”   
  
Bloodstone moved a lock of strawberry red hair out of her face. “Yeah, I was. But I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to take a walk.” She raised a brow in suspicion. “What are you doing?”   
  
“I was just uh…” Emerald racked her brain for a believable excuse until one finally came to her. “I was taking the ship out for a test run! I thought about your suggestion and decided that would probably be for the best. But I didn’t want to disturb you or anyone else.”   
  
The mechanic’s once confused face soon turned back to a cheerful grin. “Oh! Makes sense!”   
  
“Yeah!” Emerald laughed nervously. “So you can go back to sleep now or whatever it is you were doing! I’ll see you bright and early in the morning!”    
  
She pushed the button to open her ship and started to step inside. However, she froze in her tracks when she got the feeling Bloodstone hadn’t budged. Turning her head, her suspicions were confirmed, and she saw the other gem standing there and nervously playing with her hair.   
  
“What?”   
  
“I…” Bloodstone began, gulped and started to talk again. “I just thought...maybe uh…that you...uhhhh...”   
  
“I don’t have all night, Bloodstone.”   
  
“Take me with you!”   
  
Emerald felt her stomach knot up as she took in the other gem’s request. “I…”   
  
“I just can’t sleep because I’m so excited about going to space!” the freckled gem continued, looking up at the sky dreamily. “It’s the only thing I can think about. The stars, the moon, the sun, the planets, the galaxies, everything so close...and better yet, I’ll get to see it all with you!”    
  
She walked closer to Emerald until she was in her reach, extending a hand. “Just a few seconds in the stars to hold me over, and then we can call it a night and go on the big journey tomorrow? Please?”   
  
The way Bloodstone was looking at her, with wide and pleading eyes, made Emerald want to give in so badly. That stupid feeling was starting to take over again, and the rather adorable expression on the stocky gem’s face was making it hard to resist her plea. She glanced from side to side anxiously at first, not knowing what to do. But finally, she made up her mind. Emerald extended a hand to meet Bloodstone’s very slowly until their fingers were almost touching, and the other gem’s eyes were growing wider with anticipation, feeling as if the one thing she wanted most in her life was finally within reach.   
  
And then Emerald pulled back and fled into the ship.   
  
Bloodstone’s mouth gaped open in shock at the unexpected twist, but she was quick to react, chasing after the other gem. “Wait! Emerald!”   
  
Emerald was sure the mechanic hadn’t followed and made her way toward the ship’s main controls, eager to get it started. However, footsteps behind her and a rather sharp tug at her arm stopped her from doing so. She turned to see Bloodstone, looking at her with a slight pain in her eyes.   
  
“What are you doing!? Get off me!”   
  
“Why can’t I come?” Bloodstone began to hound her. “I’m not doing anything else!”   
  
“I told you! You can come with me tomorrow! Just let go of me!”   
  
“But I want to come with you now, too! Please, Emerald. I’ve been waiting so long!”   
  
“I’m not even going to go past the moon, for the galaxy’s sake! You’d be missing nothing.”   
  
“I’d be missing more than I’d seen my entire life!”   
  
“No you won’t!”    
  
Bloodstone’s fearful expression soon changed to a more challenging one, and her grip tightened. “Why are you so against me coming with you?”   
  
“I don’t know! Just let go of my arm, please!”   
  
“No! I want you to tell me why. Why can’t I go?”   
  
“Bloodstone, please-”   
  
“Why, Emerald!?”    
  
The shift in Bloodstone’s tone from troubled to slightly angry was enough to make Emerald snap. “Because I’m not taking you to space with me, okay!?”   


Bloodstone took a step back, her eyes wide in shock. “Wh-What?”   


“What’s all this noise?” one of the Hematites complained as she walked onto the ship.   


“I predict Emerald was going to high-tail it to space without us,” Star Sapphire said with a laugh, but then her face dropped in shock all of a sudden. “....Oh my stars, she actually was. This is awkward.”

“We...were tricked?!” Ruby gasped, looking at the psychic gem.

“What in the stars?” Mal hissed. “Is that true?” She stomped over to Emerald, leaning over her with a questioning look.

Emerald was tongue-tied and trying to make a good lie, but as the gems all looked at her with confused, angry looks, she stood up straight and glared daggers at them all.

“That’s right. None of you are going to space with me.”

“Why?” one of the Hematites asked. “You promised you would take us if we-”

“I lied!” Emerald snapped. “I had to get my ship repaired somehow, and I couldn’t do it alone! And none of you are equipped for proper space warfare or-”

“Oh, I’ll show you space warfare!!” Mal snarled, ready to lunge at Emerald, but Bloodstone held her back.

“E-Emerald, you can’t be serious!”. Bloodstone pleaded, almost sorrowfully. “You know how much we all want to go back to space!”

“Bloodstone, honey, trust me. You’re all so much better off here! Besides, you’ve never even seen space beyond a few hours, and your defectiveness would just make you a target to Homewor-” Emerald saw the horrified look on Bloodstone’s face and immediately realized what she’d just said.

Mal snarled in fury. “What did you just say about Bloodstone, you creep!? I’m gonna rip your face...w-wait, Bloodstone?” The fusion sensed that something was off and glanced to her leader, who looked pale and ready to be sick.

Emerald gave a small yelp and clapped her hands together. “Er, that was an error! I honestly have no idea what I was saying there.”

“Bloodstone, I thought you fought yourself out of Homeworld’s forces...” one of the Hematites said.

“Saw one of the Diamonds…” the other added.

“You’re really did do all that, right?” Ruby asked.   
  
Mal, who was somehow looking the most concerned, began to slowly edge toward her crewmate. “Bloodstone, w-was she...are you…are you really defective?”

Bloodstone said nothing, already in tears. She stared at Emerald with the most heartbroken expression the ex-elite gem had ever seen, and suddenly bolted off the ship.

“Wait, Bloodstone!” Mal gasped, reaching out for her. “Come back!”   
  
Her pleas were to no avail, for Bloodstone continued to flee in terror. The rest of the crew ran after her, but Mal momentarily turned around to glare hatefully at Emerald.

“Don’t ever come back here,” the fusion snarled and exited the ship using her wings, joining her friends to search for Bloodstone.   
  
Emerald didn’t move for a while. Her body felt strangely heavy, like her legs were glued to the floor of her ship. For some reason, the thing she had been planning to do ever since she’d made the deal with those gems to help her fix the ship took more of a toll on her than she expected it to. She felt a pang of something that hurt when she thought about the look on Bloodstone’s face before she ran away. Emerald didn’t mean to let it slip that she was defective. Sure, she had planned to betray her trust, but not like that.   
  
Whatever. It was too late now.   
  
Still unable to shake that heavy feeling away, Emerald drug herself to the front of the ship and sat down in her chair. It felt nice to be there again but not as good as she’d expected it to. Without further ado, she fiddled with the controls a bit before setting the ship on a course to space. It soon lifted off the ground, and she sighed in relief.    
  
“Guess those gems were good for something after all, huh?” she laughed, trying to get the weird sensation in her gut to go away by humoring herself. It didn’t work.   
  
She didn’t put the ship into hyperspeed just yet. Maneuvering out of the cave was hard work, especially since she had to watch for any gems who could have stuck around. Knowing she’d already shattered their hearts was enough. She didn’t need to literally shatter them. Luckily, none of them were in the cave, and soon, she was free and flying upward toward space.

* * *

Bloodstone could see the glittering green exterior of Emerald’s ship flying towards the sky from her spot in the woods. Her eyes welled up, and her heart ached further to see it disappear in hyperspeed. And not just from the lost opportunity to finally see beyond the stars.

She whimpered a sorrowful goodbye and after hearing her name called out by her crewmates, ran farther and farther into the forest.

 

_ And I can't sing the blues anymore _

_ But I can sing this song _

_ And you can sing this song _

_ When I'm gone _   
  


  
  


  
  



	21. I Need You

_ I need you like the flower needs the rain _

_ You know I need you, guess I'll start it all again _

 

“Stupid music cartridge!” Emerald snarled as she tried to fast-forward on the tape, deciding this particular song was not pleasant to her ears and was making the rest of her body feel constricted. 

When the tape player didn’t do as she wished, she screeched and ejected the tape, throwing it across the galley. The ex-elite grumbled to herself as she sat in her seat and glared at the stars. It certainly was different than when she had stared at them from Earth. 

Almost instinctively, she turned her head to speak to whoever was at her beck and call but saw nothing but empty space. And she had just then noticed the empty chairs, six of them in a semi-circle at different functions of the ship. How did she miss that?

Oh well, it wasn’t like they were needed. She could pilot this whole ship by herself...somehow.

Putting the ship on autopilot, she walked around to look at all the features that had been added. Slowly striding around the galley, she got a closer look at all the functions the chairs had been seated by. And it was only then that she noticed the seats were different sizes to accommodate various sized gems. Those Earth rebels were really invested in space travel, weren’t they?

Emerald walked up behind the chair closest to the helm of the ship besides her own, noticing all the engine controls situated there. Just the perfect fit for Bloodstone. Peering over the edge of the chair, she saw a small wrapped cloth in the seat and picked it up. Opening it revealed a handful of big, bright red strawberries, freshly picked from Earth. Bloodstone must have been saving them for the trip.

They looked delicious, but for some reason, Emerald’s throat felt taut. She took a bite anyway. Chewing the strange Earth fruit wasn’t near as satisfying as it had been the first time. Instead, the sweet yet bitter taste almost made her feel sick. Nonetheless, she continued to chew the berry into a pulp and hesitantly swallow it, shuddering even more than before when it slithered down her throat.   
  
“Eugh,” she said with a shudder. “Not as good as they were on Earth, eh Bloodstone?”   
  
She was met with silence and the cold memory of what happened. Emerald groaned. She was starting to scare herself. This wasn’t anything like her at all! She’d been dying to get to space again and start things back from how they were before she found herself marooned on Earth. Why did she feel so...empty?   
  
Upon noticing the call screen on her control panel, an idea popped into her head. Of course! She could terrorize the Off Colors! That was something she missed dearly, and she was sure Lars and everyone else on his wretched ship were lost without her.    
  
“This should put me in the mood,” she mused, pressing the button on her screen that would call Lars’ ship.

To her delight, the screen turned on, and Lars was indeed there, but he was crammed in-between who-knew-how-many Zircons, all squabbling eagerly with excitement.

“Emerald, now ain’t the best time!” he shouted over the chatter.

“Is there ever a good time with you?” she huffed angrily. “Where are you??”

“Uhhh not gonna tell you, but it’s a place you’d never ever suspect in a million years.” He smiled smugly, then shouted, “Okay ladies, we’re about to let you all off, and we’ll give you an abridged tour of-”

Emerald cursed in frustration as she ended the message and glared at the stars. For once, she was sick of looking at them.

And she was sick of being alone. Even in this short time. 

The stars seemed to twinkle more intensely as she felt a burning sensation in her eyes, frustrated that there were tears welling up. This was so stupid. And she felt even stupider.

What point did she have in denying those misfits? It wasn’t like she was going to gain favor with Homeworld again. And they’d proven more useful than any Citrine she’d ever commanded.

And Bloodstone was...different. Even if Emerald would have had to deal with the irritating gaggle of friends she’d accrued, Bloodstone would at least have been good company. She’d almost been looking forward to that false prospect of taking her to space.

Emerald choked in frustration as her eyes burned again. Just thinking about Bloodstone was making her chest tight and her throat raw. She couldn’t be a good space pirate if she was constantly feeling ill over this.

And, she resolved, the only cure was to get Bloodstone on her ship.

Stopping autopilot, Emerald cranked the controls hard and made a sharp u-turn, rocketing back towards Earth.

It...really did look nice from afar.   
  
She felt a small teardrop threatening to leave her eye and for once, didn’t try to fight it and let it slide down her cheek and onto the control panel. One couldn’t hurt, right?   
  
“Hmmmm...now how do I find Bloodstone?” Emerald thought out loud, turning her head to the navigation panel. She’d become familiar with all of her ship’s controls while she’d been floating alone in space for so long. Luckily, after searching through her list of coordinates, she realized that someone had plugged the cave in. Of course Bloodstone would want to visit her Earth home from time to time.   
  
When she eventually arrived at the site, Emerald parked her ship outside the entrance. She tried to remind herself that these gems wouldn’t be too happy to see her. But of course they would forgive her! Once she told them that she planned on taking them to space after all, they’d have to or else they were no use to her. At least that’s how she thought it worked.   
  
However, when she entered the cave, there was a strange quietness in the atmosphere. She couldn’t hear footsteps or muffled laughter or anything but the now eerie drops of water falling from the ceiling and onto the floor. Cautiously, Emerald made her way through the rocky structure, calling out the names of her crewmates.   
  
“Bloodstone? Are you around?”    
  
No answer. Perhaps she still hadn’t come back from running off. The thought made Emerald feel awful. She decided to try for some of the other ones.    
  
“Hematite twins? Big Ruby? Rude Sapphire? Uhhh...what was that one fusion’s name? Malaria? Oh! Malachite, right. Mal?”   
  
Still nothing. Emerald frowned. She would have to venture outside of the cave to find Bloodstone. She’d probably be more forgiving than the others given how close they were. Or perhaps the least forgiving since Emerald had more or less shattered her biggest dream and spilled her deepest darkest secret to her entire crew at the same time. Who knows? Whatever the outcome was, Emerald still felt like the gem she’d grown so attached to was her only hope. She had to find her.    
  
“Now where would she be…” The rogue gem began to think out loud again, pacing as she did so. “She’d go somewhere...to be alone...somewhere special to her and her only...I feel like she showed me something like that...oh!”  _ The tree! _

As soon as she'd run outside the cave, she met herself face to face with the crew returning from an unsuccessful search to find their leader. Mal instantly gasped in shock and lunged at her, stopping when their faces were nearly touching and baring her fangs.

“You have some nerve to come back here!” snarled Mal. “I thought we told you to stay away from here, you no-good rotten little rogue!”

“And away from our leader!” a Hematite snapped.

“...Once we find her!” her twin added.

“I can explain everything, but I need to find Bloodstone!” Emerald said awkwardly, backing away from Mal. “I think I know where she is.”

“After what you did to her?!” spat Mal. “What makes you think you'd get her to show up?!”

“H-her tree! She-”

“We already checked there. She's not anywhere in that area,” Ruby said, glaring down at her.

“I predict we're going to beat Emerald senseless,” Star Sapphire growled, cracking her knuckles.

“Look, you can do whatever you want to me after I find Bloodstone,” Emerald sighed, “but I want to help find her.”

“Oh, no you don't!”  Mal started closing in on her again, the rest of the crew following suit. “If you know what's good for you, you'll get your sorry rear back on your ship and-HEY WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?”

“I DON'T KNOW!!!” Emerald screamed as she high-tailed it into the woods, running as fast as her legs would carry her.

Running deep into the woods, Emerald tried to find the biggest, thickest tree. Too tall for her crew to climb well and too full and thick for Mal to see her from above. It almost felt like hours before she found herself in a part of the forest where the sky was almost covered by the canopy of leaves, blocking out almost all possible light.

“Bloodstone?” she called. “It's Emerald! I regret not allowing you and your crew on my ship! I realize I was erroneous to think I could pilot it alone!”

There was no answer anywhere, so she kept walking in the trees. “Your crew is worried about you! They don't want to hurt you, I promise! I mean, they want  _ me _ shattered, but not you!”

There was a rustle in the thick bushes behind her, and Emerald smiled with relief. “Oh, there you are! I knew you would be hiding somewhere around-”

She was cut off by a deafening, squelching roar. The rogue gem turned around to see a large corrupted gem with no visible eyes, varied colors on its body, a tangled mane of fur and a Quartz gem embedded in its broad chest. 

“Y-you're not Bloodstone...” Emerald gulped. “But if you have seen her, then maybe you can direct me to-”

“ _ GWAAAAAAAAAUGHHHHH!!!” _

Emerald shrieked and ran as fast as she could, the corrupted gem hot on her trail. She thought about jumping in the bushes to hide or looking for a crevice, but the monster would definitely be able to find her that way. The ground was shaking as the massive creature’s paws came down on it rapidly, and Emerald could feel its breath hot on her neck. She needed to find a place to hide and quickly. Somewhere the monster couldn’t reach…   
  
Just in the nick of time, a bright idea popped into her head. The green gem glanced around until her eyes landed on a fairly tall tree. It wasn’t as tall as Bloodstone’s, but it was still high enough off the ground in order for her to escape the monster. Sucking in a deep breath and closing her eyes in preparation, Emerald leapt at the tree and clutched its trunk. Once she’d secured herself, she quickly began to climb the length of it, still a bit shaky, but it was obvious that she’d made progress.

She didn’t climb all the way up, just high enough so the corrupted gem couldn’t reach her. That being said, it was still pretty high. Smirking, Emerald looked down at the pitiful creature scratching at the trunk of the tree and making a whimpering noise. She couldn’t help but laugh.   
  
“Haha! Look at you, trying to get to me. You poor, pitiful, hideous little-”

Just as she spoke, an exceptionally strong gust of wind buffeted through the branches of the tree. She yelped and came very close to losing her balance. When she found herself still secured on the branch, she sighed in relief. That was until she felt it starting to crack.   
  
“Oh stars no.”   
  
The corrupted gem picked up on the dire situation and began to lick its fangs, circling the tree and waiting for Emerald to fall into its clutches. It even began to headbutt the trunk, causing the bark securing the branch to split even faster. Knowing there was not much she could do now, she shut her eyes tight and prepared to meet her demise.    
  
“Hey! Pick on someone your own size, ya brute!”   
  
The sudden voice alerted Emerald. She opened her eyes for a second, just in time to see a stone hit the monster at full force. It growled in response, turning around to face whatever threw it. Emerald did the same, curious as to who had come to her aid. When she saw who was standing there, her eyes instantly widened in both shock and relief.

“Bloodstone!” Emerald gasped, happier to see the red and green gem standing near her than she’d ever been in her life. “I have all my regrets to tell you about my decisions, and my new plans for the future-”

“Save it for when you’re not about to get chomped on by a corrupted Quartz!” Bloodstone interrupted, determination in her eyes. “Hang tight!”

“I’m hanging as much as I can!” Emerald whined, feeling the branch crack again. 

The creature was taking slow, threatening steps towards the freckled gem as she armed herself with more stones. She chucked a few at it, pelting it’s head, which only made it growl and snarl more. She began scaling another tree behind her, throwing more rocks as she continued to climb upwards, keeping its attention on her. 

“Emerald, try and climb to another branch!” Bloodstone instructed her, running out of rocks.

The branch the elite gem was still hugging onto cracked again. She squeaked in terror, and before she could let go, it snapped. Emerald found herself falling towards the ground. Scrambling frantically, she managed to grab a lower hanging branch and clutched on tight.

“B-Bloodstoooone!!!”

“Hang on!” the other gem shouted, climbing up several branches and grabbing one right above her. She napped it off the trunk, leaving a jagged point at the end. Glaring down at the snarling creature waiting right below the tree, Bloodstone leaped from the branch with a triumphant screech, pointing the makeshift spear straight at the monster’s neck with fierce determination.

Emerald watched as Bloodstone collided with the creature, the branch spearing right through its neck. It immediately began to roar and writhe wildly. Bloodstone hadn’t expected the creature to linger so long and lost her grip on the branch as it flung her into a tree, striking the trunk head-first with full force and bouncing to the ground harshly. 

Only a couple seconds later, the corrupted Quartz finally weakened, and its limbs relaxed. Before it could lay to the ground, it exploded in a cloud of smoke, leaving a banded orange gem to settle into the dirt.   
  
Breathing a relieved sigh, Emerald cautiously made her way down the tree and back onto the forest floor. She rubbed her hands together and dusted her knees off before looking around to see where Bloodstone had landed. Finally, she caught a glimpse of her lying on her side a few feet away from the monster’s gem.   
  
“Bloodstone!” she called to her, rushing over. “Get up! I have to talk to you!”    
  
However, despite her request, the freckled gem lay completely still. Emerald screwed up her face in confusion. Perhaps she wasn’t quite ready to talk about everything that happened and needed a little extra push.   
  
“I demand you get up this instant, Bloodstone!” Emerald barked. “I have some very serious matters to discuss with you, and I assure you that once I tell you what I’ve got planned, you won’t be moping around any more!”   
  
She still didn’t budge. Emerald frowned. Something was up. This was very unlike the normally enthusiastic gem. She kneeled in front of Bloodstone, prodding her shoulder.   
  
“Space to Bloodstone? Hello? Anyone there?”    
  
As soon as she spoke, the gem’s body began to convulse, and her form started to break away into bits of light. Emerald gasped in horror, quickly turning her over to where they were facing one another. Bloodstone’s eyes were cracked open only a sliver, and just as she’d feared, a large crack was running down her gem.   
  
“O-Oh...Bloodstone…”   
  
The semi-conscious gem tried to answer her, but every time she opened her mouth, her form started to dissipate into red flashes of light. Her breathing was shallow and heavy, as if she was trying her hardest to keep her form together and not completely disappear into her fractured gem.    
  
Emerald felt her eyes starting to burn, and her throat choking up as she held Bloodstone’s limp body in her arms. She began to gently shake her, hoping it might jolt her form back into place as it slowly faded away.    
  
“Hold on, Bloodstone!” she pleaded, blinking away tears. “It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay. You and I are gonna find the crew, and then we’re gonna go to space like you wanted, and we’re all gonna travel the galaxy together, and we’re gonna be happy, and I’m not gonna lose-”   
  
She was interrupted as Bloodstone finally gave in, her form disappearing into a cloud of dust and a cracked gemstone with blood red flecks. Emerald desperately caught it in her hands as it fell to the ground, careful not to let it fall and get even more damaged.   
  
“You….”

Panic arose in her throat, and her gaze flickered over to the corrupted gem still on the ground. Carefully putting down Bloodstone, she ran over to bubble it so it wouldn’t reform and cause any more harm. Then, she picked up Bloodstone again, fleeing back the way she came from.

Her lungs and eyes both burned as she ran through the dark woods, chest pounding like a drum and almost audible in her ears. It was a miracle she didn’t trip and drop the gem she clutched tightly but carefully in her hands. She didn’t even really know where she was running, but she knew it was to get help, to somehow fix Bloodstone and to just tell her everything.

She had so much to tell her.

Emerald didn’t even know how much time had passed when she saw the figures of Bloodstone’s crew. They all saw her running and began to rush at her and approach her to stop. But she burst right past them, straight to the cave and into her ship.

“What are you doing, you rat?!” Mal yelled at her.

“I have to go!”  Emerald screeched back. “She’s hurt!!”

Mal’s hostile expression changed to one of shock. “W-Wh...Bloodstone?!”

“Wait!” the crew called in unison as Emerald slammed the hatch shut and hung onto the freckled gemstone tightly. She ignited the engine and hastily exited the cave, right into the sky.

 

_ You know I need you like the winter needs the spring _

_ You know I need you, I need you _


	22. Songbird

_ To you, I'll give the world. _

_ To you, I'll never be cold. _

Once the ship was in hyperspeed, Emerald wasted no time in doing the only thing she could think of to save Bloodstone, no matter how much it pained her to do so. She furiously slapped the communications button, contacting Lars’ ship. If he didn’t answer or shirked her off this time, she swore she was going to actually kill him. Not that she hadn’t been serious every time before that. She just always forgot to go through with it, but this time, she actually would.

“What?” Lars’ irritable face popped up on her screen.

“Where are you?! I’m coming on your ship!”

“Wh-? Oh no you’re not!” He folded his arms sternly. “And I’m not telling you where!”

“Don’t need to. I can track your ship,” she spoke, void of any boasting in her panic. “And I’ll ram my own into you if I have to!”

“You’re absolutely nuts!” Lars spat. “What are you even thinking?”

“I need your help! Ugh, listen, I’ll explain once I’m there.”

“Rhodonite, put the shields up!” Lars shouted over his shoulder. “The big ones! ...Yes I’m serious!”    
  
He turned back to Emerald, snark clear in his voice. “Well, good luck getting in here honey because you’d have to really ram us full speed ahead if you wanted to- FUCK!!!”

Lars was flung off screen and cursing along with the rest of his terrified crew as Emerald’s ship collided straight with his, the impact buffered by the shields but not enough to stop them from getting thrown about like ragdolls.

“EMERALD WHAT THE FUCK?!” Lars screeched.

“I warned you!!!” she shouted. “You have to let me in!”

“How did you get here so fast?! Were you on Earth?!”

“Yes!” She gripped at her hair anxiously, Bloodstone’s gem placed in her lap. “Now, would you please let me on your ship?! I seriously need your help!”

“Are you insane?! I’d rather-”

“I’ll claw your hatch open with my bare hands!!!” she snapped, trying not to cry from frustation and whatever else. “Just listen to me! I need you to-”

“Completely leave you accessible to my ship?! Absolutely not!”

“I need you to use your powers!”

“Excuse me?”

She sniffled, humiliated by what she was doing but knowing it was her only choice. “You turned your first mate into a pink nightmare! But you did it because he was hurt right?!”

“Well, he was dead, but-”

“Whatever! It healed him! I just need you to use those powers on a gem for me.”

“Excuse me?”

“I…” Emerald tried to come up with the right words but failed and simply held up Bloodstone to the screen. “See?! She’s cracked, and you can fix her, right?”

“What the heck kind of rock is that?” Ronaldo peered at the screen from over Lars’ shoulder. “Certainly not one I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeeeeah, that doesn’t look like any gem to me, Em.” Lars shook his head. “And how do I know it’s not going to form into some monster that’ill eat me so you can take over the ship and-”

“Please,” Emerald pleaded, her resolve too tired and shaken now to stay fierce. “I’ll walk off the ship if I have to, just...use your magic on her please.”   
  
She felt her voice crack, struggling to express in words how she felt about Bloodstone since it was something she had no prior experience with. “She’s….important to me.”

Lars was slightly taken aback to hear the genuine sorrow in Emerald’s voice and how she struggled to come up with the words. But he knew what she meant. Just from the tone. 

“...Well, look, the thing is, I don’t think my powers work on gems. Just people,” Lars frowned, rubbing his chin with thought.

Emerald screwed her eyes shut, waiting for him to hang up and tell her to get lost.

“...But I do have something else that might work.”   
  
When her ship was level with Lars’, Emerald carefully walked on board with Bloodstone’s gem held tightly in her hands. Everyone gathered at their positions in the galley tried not to look at her but couldn’t help but exchange a few glances with the rival gem approaching their captain. Lars and Ronaldo were both seated at their chairs, locking eyes with Emerald as soon as she walked on the ship.   
  
“Okay,” Lars said, getting to his feet and motioning at her, “come with me.”   
  
As soon as she began to follow, the Zircons seemed to appear out of nowhere to flank each of her sides, and Ronaldo positioned himself behind her. The two gems and pink human followed her as she walked in the same direction as Lars.   
  
“What’s this?” she asked, more curiously than snarky. She wasn’t in the mood for snark.   
  
“An escort,” Lars informed her. “So you don’t stick a knife in my back when I’m not looking.”   
  
“You’d better not try anything,” Ronaldo growled in a whisper, clearly less trusting of her than the captain.    
  
She didn’t even have it in her to respond. Instead, she kept her head down and her eyes focused on the red and green gem clutched in her palms. Emerald carefully ran a finger over the crack, wincing at how deep it was and being careful not to harm the gem any more. Tears threatened to escape her eye yet again, but she sucked it up. There was no way she was going to let this wretched human and his awful crew see her show any sign of emotional vulnerability.    
  
“So, who is she?”   
  
“Huh?” Emerald perked up when Lars questioned her.   
  
“That gem,” he asked, pointing to the stone in her hands. “Who is she?”   
  
“Oh…” Emerald tried to think of the best way to go about this. “A Bloodstone.”   
  
“Hey, that was my gem name when-”   
  
“Ron, now’s not the time,” Lars gently scolded his first mate before questioning Emerald further. “I meant like...who is she to you?”   
  
Emerald felt her heart catch in her throat and coughed. “An...acquaintance of mine. Nothing more.”   
  
“If she was nothing more, then you would have just left her to die,” he pointed out, turning around to give her a smirk. “I know how you work.”   
  
“Ugh, fine!” She sighed, not having the emotional strength to play games with him. “She’s a friend. There. I said it. Happy?”   
  
“Yeah.” Lars smiled. “I am.”   
  
Emerald was about to question the meaning of that, but Lars and the others came to a sudden stop. He opened a cabinet, reaching in and pulling out a vial of some translucent serum with a rosy tint and popped the cap off of it. He motioned for Emerald to put Bloodstone’s gem onto the adjacent counter.

She hesitated a moment, almost unsure if this would help or harm Bloodstone and gave a sullen glare to Lars before placing the coveted gem on the flat surface and taking a step back, unsure what would happen. Lars tipped the vial’s contents onto Bloodstone’s gem, not caring at the moment about the puddle that was forming on the counter and trickling off the edge onto the floor. 

For several seconds, nothing happened other than the rose-tinted droplets filling the gemstone’s crack without any reaction. Emerald felt her chest start to ache again until a dim pink glow came from the gem, and in a sparkling flash of light, the crack had been replaced, and it was as if there had never been any damage.

“Well, what do you know? It worked!” Lars clapped, grinning. ”Now can you get off my ship and-”

“Wait! I want her to regenerate! I need to make sure she will regenerate!” Emerald hissed, staring fiercely at the gem on the counter.

Lars looked over to Ronaldo and the rest of his crew. His eyes then fixated on Emerald again, and he glared. “Alright, fine. But once she’s fixed, you’re both out of here. Got it?”

“Whatever,” Emerald muttered, still staring at the gem. “I wouldn’t want to be on this ship any longer than I have to. It smells like human.”

“If you were on Earth, you should have gotten more than a whiff of it,” Lars sassed. “What were you even doing there anyway?”

“I was stranded, and Bloodstone was kind enough to rebuild my ship and-curse it, why isn’t she regenerating?!”

“It could take longer than a few seconds,” Yellow piped up. “I mean...how long did I take, Blue? Hours?”

“Five and a half.”

“But it shouldn’t be that long for her!” Emerald insisted. “Your kind is weak.”

“Watch it,” Blue warned.

“I mean, they naturally take longer to regenerate! Bloodstones are hardier! They’re made to regenerate quickly.”

“Maybe she’s just taking her time?” Ronaldo shrugged, looking curiously at the stone.

Five minutes passed. 

Then ten.

Then twenty.

Eventually an hour. And nothing had happened.

Emerald sat above Bloodstone’s gem, stiff and unreadable. She held it flat in her hands. Lars tried to get her attention, but her stare was blank and obviously in some other dimension. This whole thing was really getting uncomfortable.

“Uh...Emerald, are you really sure you want to stay here this long?” he asked. “Maybe you should just take her back on your ship and-”

The ex-elite gem suddenly shuddered, and a choked noise came from her throat.

“Emerald?” Lars’ face twisted in confusion, then dropped to see tears starting to drip on her cheeks. “...Emerald?”   
  
“She can’t do it…” Emerald choked out, still trying yet failing to hold back her tears. “She’s...s-she’s gonna be a... _ rock _ forever!”   
  
The captain cocked his head to the side. “I thought gems just took a while to-”   
  
“You don’t get it, you useless pebble!” She whipped her head around at him, tears streaming down her face now. “She can’t reform! Her gem doesn’t work; she’s not going to…oh. I....shouldn’t have told you that…” Emerald hung her head, mentally cursing herself for letting Bloodstone’s secret slip again.

The pink human blinked, letting her words settle in his head before opening his mouth. “Wait...you mean...she’s an off color?”    
  
Emerald sighed, figuring there was no use in trying to go back on her words. “Yes. But don’t put it that way.”    
  
Lars’ mouth suddenly turned downward into a sympathetic frown, and he reached out to touch Emerald’s shoulder when a weird sense of pity came over him. “Oh...I’m sorry-”   
  
“Don’t touch me!” she hissed, swatting his hand away and looking back to the gem. “I don’t need your sympathy. Go away.”

Lars took an awkward step back as Emerald continued to weep into her hands, hearing the heartbreak in her breaths and sobs. They were way too broken to be fake. Way too real. He didn’t even know this gem, Bloodstone, but Emerald obviously did. Very well. 

“B-Bloodstone,” Emerald whimpered, “I regret so much...so much….”

“Guys,” Lars muttered, glancing back to the crew behind him, pity in his voice, “let’s leave her alone for a bit.”

“But-”

“I’ll keep watch,” he assured Ronaldo. “Don’t worry.”

The crew left the galley, slow and reluctant as Lars herded them out, and he kept post near the corridor, keeping a watch on Emerald. She made no move to do anything, remaining on her knees as she held Bloodstone’s gem in her hands and wept. After several more minutes, Lars was ready to walk back over, give her his condolences and somehow get her off his ship so she could grieve in her own vessel, but before he could even take a step forward, he saw a bright glow come from her hands.

“Emerald!” he blurted in a hushed tone, and she opened her teary eye in time to let the light twinkle through her tears as the gem floated partially in the air. Before her eyes, Bloodstone’s physical form re-emerged in her arms.    
  
She began to stir after a few seconds, cracking her eyes open and bringing her hand up to rub her gem. Emerald loosened her grip just slightly so she could do this more comfortably.    
  
“Ugh…” Bloodstone groaned, then sighed in relief after a while. “Huh. I thought that thing was cra-”   
  
She was cut off by Emerald’s arms suddenly pulling her into a tight embrace. The freckled gem blinked at first, confused by the sudden action but soon returned the hung by giving the other a gentle pat on the back. After a few seconds, Emerald pulled out of the hug but still gripped Bloodstone by her shoulders, tears streaming down her face.   
  
“Bloooodstooooone!” she yowled. “I thought you were gone! Don’t you ever-and I mean  _ ever _ -get your gem cracked like that again, do you hear me? I was so wooooorr….I uh….I was….” She cleared her throat, realizing that she was perhaps showing a bit too much emotion. “It was extremely inconvenient.”    
  
Bloodstone smiled and giggled. “I know.”    
  
After a while, Emerald noticed something that looked a little off about Bloodstone’s appearance. “Wait a second. What’s with your shoulder pads?”   
  
“Huh?”   
  
“Those!” She pointed to the two black padded areas on both of the mechanic gem’s shoulders. “Were they always like that?”   
  
“Oh!” A thick layer of blush began to coat Bloodstone’s face. “Haha, funny story actually. I just...I thought...that you might like them that way?”   


Emerald’s cheeks turned a darker green, and she glanced aside, trying to hide the shy smile growing on her face. “...I do, actually….a lot.”

“Aww...well…” Bloodstone began, then craned her head up to peck Emerald on the cheek. “Thanks. I guess I just really like some of your fashion choices.”

Emerald coughed at feeling the sudden kiss and trying to ignore how warm her face now was, sniffed. “Well, I was designed with only the best sense of it.”

Lars was smiling a little as he watched the scene against the corridor, and Ronaldo walked over to stand next to him in order to get a good look at the new gem.

“I never thought I'd see Emerald ever expressing anything close to this,” Lars snickered at him with a grin.

“Close to what?”

“Love.”

Bloodstone rested back in Emerald’s arms, almost cuddling her. “Hey, where are we anyway?”

“Look out the window.” Emerald shifted her so she was sitting up and able to see the window.

Immediately upon seeing stars, Bloodstone shot up onto her feet. “OH MY-IS THAT FOR REAL??? ARE THOSE- ARE WE???”

“Welcome to space...well, part of it.” Emerald folded her arms with a cool grin. 

“OH my stars...h’ooooh boy, that’s- woah, oh my-” Bloodstone was almost hyperventilating in excitement, talking very loudly and wandering quickly over to each and every window to see all the majesty of the stars at this elevation.

“This ship is in space, we’re in space, your ship is right out that window and oh my stars, we’re-” Bloodstone was right in front of a very confused Lars.

“Uh...howdy.” Lars smiled awkwardly.

“Oh my stars, it’s you. I hate you!” Bloodstone growled, still sounding bewildered and excited. “You and your chimpanzee!”   
  
“Wh-!? I don’t have a-”   
  
“But oh my stars, it’s space. IT’S SPACE!!!” she immediately shrieked, hugging Lars tight and running back over to Emerald. “SPAAAACE!!!”

“Well,” Lars cleared his throat, “perhaps you’d like to go enjoy space and the vastness of it in Emerald’s own vessel?”

“What was that?” Emerald looked up, her smile from Bloodstone’s happiness not breaking at all.

“I’m telling you to get the fuck off my ship,” Lars said with an overly friendly smile. “Now.”

 

_ And the songbirds are singing, like they know the score. _

_ And I love you, I love you, I love you, like never before. _

 

  
  


  
  


  
  
  
  



	23. Both Sides Now

_ But now old friends they're acting strange  _

_ They shake their heads, they say I've changed _

 

“Bye bye! Have fun! Don’t ever come back here!”    
  
“Oh, trust me, we won’t unless it’s to kill you!”   
  
As Lars and Emerald said their cheerfully morbid goodbyes, Emerald and Bloodstone boarded her ship. Their hands weren’t grasping one another yet, for Emerald wasn’t quite at that level of showing affection, but their fingers were slightly intertwined. It was enough to make Bloodstone blush furiously as she meekly waved a goodbye to the dreaded pink human who had apparently saved her life despite being an awful cretin. 

Once they’d boarded the ship, Emerald sat at the chair near the front. Bloodstone trailed after her and immediately stopped by every window, doing absolutely anything to get a taste of what it was like to be in space. She was rather vocal about her excitement too. 

“Ohh, I just can’t believe we’re in space! Look at that moon over there! Or is that just a planet? I can never really be sure-AHHH!!! I JUST SAW A SHOOTING STAR!!! Or at least I think it was a shooting star. It was like a star, but it flew by really fast? That’s a shooting star, right? Or is it a meteor? Because if it’s a meteor, we should probably-”   
  
“I’m sure it was just a star!” Emerald called to her, putting in the coordinates for the cave. “Now, we’re gonna make a small detour to Earth so we can pick up the rest of your crew and...do you want to drive?”   
  
Bloodstone looked to her, blinking. “I don’t know how to pilot anything. Sorry.”   
  
Emerald frowned. She was kind of hoping that someone would be able to. Of course, she knew how to do it! But she was much better at sitting around and looking pretty while some other less powerful gem did the piloting and navigating and all that other stuff.   
  
“Well...does anyone in the crew know how?” she asked, continuing to plug in the coordinates until they were ready to take off.   
  
“Hmmmm…” Bloodstone put a finger on her chin in thought. “I think the Hematites stole a ship to get to Earth. They crashed it, though...but maybe they’re better now!”   
  
“I crashed too! There’s a first for everything.” Emerald threw her hands up dismissively. “Alright, so they can be my pilots...Mal my strategic operator, Star Sapphire the technical advisor, the Ruby maintains the engine and all the controls below deck-”

“Wh-what about me? I could do Ruby’s work-”

“This ship has plenty of controls and a dual engine to work up here! Besides, how can I be a captain of rogues without a first mate?”   


Bloodstone’s eyes widened until they were almost sparkling. “You….really mean that?”

“Of course I do.” Emerald smiled, trying not to look too shy or affectionate even though her tone gave it away. “You’re...important to me, Bloodstone.”

The grin on Bloodstone’s face couldn’t have gotten any bigger, and she was left speechless. She happily ran over to the window to look out at the stars and looked back. “Oh wow, this is gonna be so great!”

“Glad you think so!” Emerald kicked back in her seat of command, unable to stop herself from blushing as she watched the other gem admire the view.

Bloodstone looked at the navigational screen and turned her head in slight confusion. “I thought we were going to Earth? What’s with this other star map?”

“I thought we could take a little detour.” Emerald said with a smirk. “After all, you’ve never seen space right?”

“R-Really?”

“My seat has the best view you could ask for to see it all.” She patted the armrest of her chair.

Instead of seating herself on the armrest, Bloodstone leaped right onto Emerald’s lap, causing the gem to shriek in surprise. She immediately calmed herself as she awkwardly situated herself upright again so Bloodstone could get comfortable.

“As soon as we get past this field of stars, we’ll be seeing the nearest system of planets before the ones that are aligned with the Earth, and as far as I know, none of them have been colonized just yet by Homeworld, so no changes have been made to their natural states-”

“I’m just excited to see them however they may be,” Bloodstone whispered, unable to contain her excitement as she stared out the window. Looking up at Emerald with starlight reflected in her eyes, she met her gaze, so grateful for this. For returning. For everything.

She couldn’t help but kiss her right on the lips and not pull back.   
  
The feeling of Bloodstone’s lips locking with hers was something Emerald definitely wasn’t used to. She’d be lying if she said that it was expected too. But it also wouldn’t be honest if she said it wasn’t the most pleasant surprise of her life.   
  
Instead of recoiling in shock or rejecting the other gem’s affection like she was probably expecting, Emerald returned the kiss to her best ability. She found a hand running up Bloodstone’s neck to rest in her messy red hair, gently running her fingers through the crimson locks. This caused the freckled gem to sigh during the kiss, edging her body closer to Emerald. They had to break for air after a while, leaving them breathless and blushing and staring into one another’s eyes, both not exactly knowing what to say to each other for a few moments. It was Bloodstone, of course, who eventually spoke up.   
  
“So...does this mean…”   
  
“It means whatever you want it to,” Emerald laughed with a wink, still sticking to vague answers for now. But they both knew what it meant. The wide smile on Bloodstone’s incredibly flushed face confirmed the notion.    
  
Sighing happily, the mechanic snuggled up in the ex-elite’s lap and scooted over just enough for the other to be able to see out the window. Ahead of them was a blanket of stars, splattered across the galaxy like paint on a canvas. It was so close to Bloodstone that she could now make our more colors in it other than indigo: there were purples, lighter blues, even some warmer colors like really soft reds and oranges. It really was a beautiful rainbow of different celestial bodies. It was just as incredible as she’d imagined.   
  
“You know something?” Bloodstone broke the silence, shifting slightly to get more comfortable.   
  
“What?”   
  
“I think part of the beauty of this whole place is being able to share it with you.”   
  
At first, Emerald made an unreadable expression. Then, she gave a high-pitched laugh, teeth gleaming in the starlight as she did. Bloodstone wasn’t sure if it was good or bad but giggled along with her nonetheless.   
  
“Oh, Bloodstone,” Emerald chuckled. “That was the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said to me.”   
  
The freckled gem’s smile fell. “Oh...I’m sorry. I won’t-”   
  
“No, no, no, no, no, please! I didn’t say I didn’t feel the same way, and that every moment up here with you is among the best of my life! I just-” She stopped mid-sentence, nervously looking from left to right. “I mean, uhhh...heh...I didn’t say-”   
  
Bloodstone’s mouth turned upward again, and she cut her off excitedly. “R-Really?”   
  
Emerald groaned. “Okay, okay, you got me! Just...don’t tell the others I said that, or I’ll fire you. Understand?”   
  
She replied by nuzzling her face against her newly-assigned captain’s shoulder. “I understand.”   


After a long time of silent gazing out at space and cuddling, Emerald eyed the navigational course of the ship and rubbed her thumb absently on Bloodstone’s hand. “Well...in about ten minutes, the ship will be within Earth’s orbit and shortly after, back to where your crew was situated. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you.”

“Yeah.” Bloodstone smiled, tilting her head up to tap Emerald’s chin with her nose. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to know you’re back too.”

“...I...wouldn’t count on that,” Emerald squeaked. “But I’m sure they’ll be glad to know that you’re alright, and that you approve of joining me as my first mate...and errr...whatever we call this.” Her face flushed a dark jade.

“Oh, how could they not be happy about this?” Bloodstone said with a small giggle. “This is awesome!”

“I could think of a few reasons,” Emerald coughed.

* * *

 

Immediately upon landing on Earth, Emerald was cautious about opening the ship’s hatch but neglected to tell Bloodstone to share her caution. Right as the ship landed, the freckled gem immediately opened it and darted out with a jubilant leap, cheering for her crew. She was cut off with a terrified yelp when she was tackled to the ground by a large fusion.

“EMERALD, YOU LITTLE WEASEL!!! I’LL-” Mal gasped as she leaped up, realizing whoever she lunged at wasn’t the right height to be Emerald. Her mouth turned upward into a smile when she noticed who it was. “Oh my stars, Bloodstone! You’re back!”

“Y-yeah!” the stout gem laughed awkwardly, almost out of breath. “Emerald got everything all sorted out! It’s cool-”

“Where is that green rat?” Mal frowned, still not pleased with the events from earlier. “I’ve got a four-decker knuckle sandwich with her name on it for making you cry, and it’s been cooking all-”

“Mal!” Bloodstone laughed. “It’s okay! Emerald and I, well...we’re together! And we’re gonna go to space! All of us!”

The news shocked the teal fusion speechless, and she stood there with a confused expression.   
  
“You sure about that? It could be another trick!” one of the Hematites called out as she ran over to squeeze Bloodstone in a tight hug, joined by her twin.

“Oh, I’m sure! You should have seen Emerald in there trying to pilot the ship by herself! She needs us more than we need her.” Bloodstone winked, making her crew all laugh.

“I predict we’re still going to get revenge on Emerald,” Star snarled, folding her arms.

“Guys, let’s not-”

“No no!” Emerald piped up. “You’re absolutely right! I deserve whatever revenge is bestowed upon me by you lot! I deceived you, and while it was for noble reasons...at least...noble for me, I deeply regret the choices I made!”    
  
She smiled, walking out of the ship nervously and trying to ignore the many glares fixed upon her. “But ah...before you decide to pound me senseless, I just want to say that...I would truly regret if it would cause poor dear Bloodstone here to feel any more heartache than she already has. The poor dear, being tricked and having her lifelong secrets spilled and-”

“WE GET IT!!!” they all snapped.

“O-oh! Good!” Emerald chirped. “Well then, let’s get to it! Onto the ship and all!” She clapped. “Chop chop! The sooner we’re in sector 4, the sooner we can-”

“Not so fast.” Mal approached her, crossing her arms. “If you really want us to be your crew, they’re on our conditions.”   
  
“Oh.” The smile fell from Emerald’s face, and she chuckled awkwardly, trying hard to keep her cool. “That is...fine with me! Just tell me what they are, and I’ll see what I can do!”

“Hmmmm…” Mal thought for a while, then looked to her fellow crewmates. “I don’t know. What do you all think?”   
  
“I think we should be able to dogpile Emerald on a weekly basis,” one of the Hematites suggested.   
  
“Yeah!” her twin agreed, pounding her fist into her palm.   
  
“I think we should also be allowed to pick the first destinations in space!” Ruby followed up. “It just doesn’t seem fair if we don’t.”   
  
“I predict that you’ll let a certain Sapphire be of utmost importance to you,” Star Sapphire jided. “And that you’ll give all of her friends important roles on the ship as well.”   
  
“And my condition?” Mal spat, getting gradually closer to Emerald as she spoke. “My condition is you treat Bloodstone here like the best gem in the flippin’ galaxy, and if you ever break her heart, we have full permission to tie you to the front of the ship for a few lightyears, then come back to Earth and find one of those areas where they dump human waste and shatter you before throwing the remains of your sorry gem into a lake full of-”   
  
“Whoa, whoa, Mal!” Bloodstone cut in, squeezing between the two. “I think she understands. Don’t you, Emerald?”   
  
The ex-elite gem had a terrified look on her face, and her hair was puffed out like a spooked cat’s fur. She shook her head to regain her bearings and took a deep breath, looking to Mal with an incredibly nervous smile.   
  
“Y-Yeah! I do! Don’t worry about me! You’ll all get everything you want, I promise!” She looked to Bloodstone. “And you, dear? Do you have a condition?”   
  
“Hmmmmm…” The freckled gem scrunched up her face in thought before a lightbulb seemed to go off in her head, and she turned to Emerald beaming. “Yeah! You have to hold my hand the whole time.” She extended a hand to the other gem, a wry smile on her face.   
  
Emerald, both wanting to make a good impression and incredibly flustered by how adorable she was being, took her hand and held it as tightly as she could. “Oh, I don’t see why not.”

“...I was kind of kidding, because after five minutes it might get kind of sweaty, but uh...I still really like doing it a lot,” Bloodstone giggled.

“You know? I really like doing it too,” Emerald assured, leading her back on the ship and glancing behind her. “Well? Are you all going to stand there like half-wits or are you going to get on board?”

“O-one sec,” Mal coughed. “I want to go say goodbye to my favorite flying spots and-”

“Oh, we can fly back here whenever we want!” Bloodstone whined, impatient and eager to get back to space. “There’s planets you guys have to see! It looks incredible out there!”

“Alright, alright!” Mal laughed and clambered aboard, the rest of the gems following her on.    
  
Once everyone was on board and seated, Emerald shut the hatch and sat in her chair of command. “Alright, Hematites, fire up the engines and nova thrusters. The sooner we’re off this planet, the sooner I can destroy the Off Colors!”

“Right!” they both spoke up.

“Well, aren’t we technically ‘Off Colors’ too?” Ruby raised a hand from the stairs.

“Well...yes. But we’re  _ better _ Off Colors. And thus, we have to take down the competition. Especially when our competition is smelly humans.”

“Agreed!” Bloodstone nodded and grinned as she plopped on Emerald’s lap.

Emerald grinned slightly. “You know you have your own chair, right?”

“Yeah, well,” Bloodstone shrugged, smiling as she leaned back into a cuddle, “I like this one better.”

 

_ Well something's lost, but something's gained  _

_ In living every day. _


	24. It's Going to Take Some Time

_ But it's going to take some time this time _

_ And I can't make demands _

_ But, like the young trees in the winter time _

_ I'll learn how to bend _

“Alright, under all circumstances, if you're holding a baby, what is the one thing you absolutely do not want to do?” Lars quizzed Ronaldo as he held a surprisingly placid Emily out in front of him.

“Drop the baby?”

“That's right. Especially when you're on the go. You never want that baby to slip out of your hands and fall to the ground.” Lars stood in front of him with the seriousness of a drill sergeant.    
  
“So now, onto the next step. Can you guess why I'm having you hold Emily out in front of you?”

“Because you want to see how adorable she is?” Ronaldo suggested awkwardly, really unsure of what he was doing.

“Absolutely, but what's the teaching reason?”

“Uhhhhh...so  _ I _ can see how adorable she is?”

“Bingo bongo, that is wrongo.” Lars pulled a blanket out from behind his back. “Swaddling!”

“Oh. Great.” Ronaldo was already wincing at the thought of the teeth marks Emily would be leaving in his fingerbones for this, having learned quickly that she hated anything confining her claws and feet.

“Don't get anxious,” Lars assured, circling around behind Ronaldo then right beside him. “I'm an expert on this.”

“How are you an expert on anything related to childcare? Your goldfish exploded like a bag of popcorn-”

“Trust me, after years of babysitting-”

“Babysitting?”

“Oh yeah,” Lars snorted. “Believe it or not, I babysat my neighbor’s kids for three years almost every Saturday. I needed the extra money, and my mom thought it would be good for me to learn about taking care of kids.”

“Well,” Ronaldo coughed, surprised at Lars’ revelation, “that explains a lot.”

“And watching after cousins and  _ their _ cousins at every family reunion over in the Philippines? I got this stuff down flat!” Lars grinned and held the blanket up, giving Ronaldo a challenging stare. “Shall we begin?”   
  
Ronaldo looked to the blanket and back to Emily. She looked adorable and docile right now, that was for sure, but he gulped when he remembered what she could become. Especially when you did something that was unfavorable to her, as this probably would be. But one glance at his boyfriend’s gentle smile made him think of just why he was doing this, and he sucked in a deep breath of preparation.   
  
“Okay,” he sighed, eyes narrowing. “I’m ready.”   
  
Lars couldn’t help but chuckle at how dramatic Ronaldo was making this sound. “Chill, man. You’re just wrapping a child in a blanket. It’s not like you’re about to drive the ship into a black hole or something.”   
  
“I have to get in the zone or I won’t be prepared!” the first mate whined. “You know how I am! Plus, the “child” has teeth and claws.”   
  
“Okay, okay,” Lars laughed, nudging Ronaldo gently. “I can’t argue with that. Now, let’s do this, oh brave baby swaddler.”   
“Righto!” Ronaldo’s attention went completely to the little gem in his arms. “Alrighty, Emily…” He snickered nervously, trying not to let his anxiety show. “It’s uh...it’s time to...enter the cloth zone.”   
  
_ Oh god, I’m even bad at dad jokes. _

Keeping Emily propped up in one arm, Ronaldo tried draping the blanket over her and wrapping it around. Feeling her hands already getting covered in the restricting fabric, Emily rolled over and out of Ronaldo’s hold, climbed up his shoulder and sat on top of his head, giving a triumphant chirp.

Lars giggled. “Okay, try that again, but put the blanket under her and wrap from behind.”

Ronaldo sighed and pulled her gently off his head, feeling tiny claws tugging his curls. He draped the blanket over his arm and shoulder and lay her on it like it was a hammock. Emily squeaked in disapproval as he wrapped the blanket around her and began to squirm. The first mate quickly tucked the edges of the blanket in and held the writhing gemling up.   
  
“Did it!” he said triumphantly.

Before Lars could congratulate him, Emily began to hiss like a kitten, spooking Ronaldo into losing his grip on her for a second. Luckily, he caught her in one arm and stared at her. Her little nose was curled into a snarl that was as ferocious as her tiny cute form could make.   
  
Ronaldo gulped. “She really doesn’t like it!”

“Emily! No hissing!” Lars scolded. “She won’t do that when she’s sleepy. That’s as close to success as we’ll get with that part.”

“Oh...great! So, what’s next?” Ronaldo winced as Emily continued to growl and hiss. “Hopefully letting her go before she bites me?”

Rubbing his chin in thought, Lars smiled. “I’ve got it. Baths.”

Immediately at the word ‘bath,’ Emily stopped her terrible hissing and chirped delightfully, wriggling in anticipation. She loved anything to do with water and the wonderful frothy bubbles her papa put in it for her during bathtime.

“What? No diapers?” Ronaldo teased, glad he was able to cradle a happy baby at the moment.

“Thank god no. Emily doesn’t need them.”   
  
“That’s a relief,” Ronaldo sighed, bringing a finger up to gently bump against Emily’s nose. She smiled happily in response. It was comforting to know she didn’t completely hate him. Rather that was because Lars liked him and not because he made a good impression on her was another story but one he’d leave for another day.

“Okie dokie,” Lars announced, brushing his hands together. “To the bath!”   
  
“Yeah! To the bath!” Ronaldo followed up, quickly walking behind Lars with the tiny gem still cradled in his arms. She seemed to be less fussy and in a much better mood for now, which made the first mate feel a lot safer holding her for an extended period of time.   
  
However, after a while, Ronaldo noticed that Lars walked past the bathroom. Confused, he decided to ask about it. “Hey, you missed your stop.”   
  
“Huh?”   
  
“The bathroom’s back there.”   
  
“What do you m-oh!” A small chuckle left the captain’s throat. “No, no, no. She’s not gonna take a shower! She’s too little for that. The sink is Emily’s bathtub.”   
  
The gemling nodded in response, as if she somehow understood what her dad was saying and clapped her hands together excitedly.    
  
“Oh. So that’s why there was green hair in my glass yesterday,” Ronaldo laughed. He should have expected that anyway with how small the little Emerald was.   
  
When they arrived at the very small kitchen installed in the ship, Lars led Ronaldo to the sink. He grabbed a dish towel with rocket ships and stars all over it from the drawer and placed it on the cabinet for when it was time to dry her.   
  
“Okay,” Lars began instructing Ronaldo, “the first thing you need to do is get her out of that blanket and into that sink.”

“Shouldn't we put the water in first?”

“Normally, yes, but Emily seems to acquaint that with the idea that she is a potato, and the warm water is soup….”

“....What?”

“Look, she likes being in the sink when I turn on the water,” Lars concluded, stepping aside so Ronaldo could unwrap the blanket. Emily happily leapt off the unswaddled cloth and into the metal sink, sitting right under the faucet. 

“Oh, she loves this part!” Lars said with a grin. “Turn on the water.”

Ronaldo adjusted the faucet and watched the tiny gem squeal in delight as she let the stream of warm water cascade on her, rolling onto her back and rocking about happily. He couldn't help but laugh. “Aww, she's eager to get clean.”

Lars handed Ronaldo the bubble bath mix to pour in the water once the basin was starting to fill. “Here. Just be careful not to put too much in. That stuff goes a long way.”

Ronaldo froze as he tapped out the rest of the bottle. “Uh...so...how much can...that last half of the bottle go?”

Lars rubbed his forehead and groaned. “Oh god, we're gonna have the whole counter covered in bubbles.”

“Buhbuh!” Emily chirped in delight as she splashed about. Some of the soapy water she was splashing landed in Ronaldo’s face, causing him to yelp in surprise.   
  
“AHHH!!!” he exclaimed, taking his glasses off and slamming his palms against his eyes. “IT GOT IN MY EYES!”   
  
Lars gave him a glare of confusion. “It went through your glasses?”   
  
“They don’t have lenses, remember!?” Ronaldo groaned in pain, wincing and keeping his eyes shut tightly.    
  
“Where’s that towel!? I need the towel!” He began feeling around on the counter blindly until his hands gripped the dish towel Lars had left out for Emily.   
  
“Hey!” The captain gave Ronaldo’s hand a gentle slap, causing him to recoil and jerk it away from the dish towel. “That’s Emily’s favorite!”   
  
“Do you want me to go blind, Lars?!”   
  
“No, but if you do I can heal it! Just get yourself another one, and I’ll finish up Emily’s bath.” Lars turned his attention back to the gemling in the sink. “Now, let’s wash your cute wittle fluff!”   
  
“Okay…” The first mate was going to suggest that Lars help him find a towel but figured he’d be busy with Emily. Plus, how hard could this be?   
  
Ronaldo continued to feel around for the drawer handle, trying hard to ignore how much his eyes stung. His hands slid across the counter, trying to grab anything that felt like a door handle. This? No, that was a fork. Maybe this? No, a paper towel. Close but not good enough. Maybe he needed to go lower? He bent downward a bit, feeling around until he felt something that was the texture of cloth. He grabbed it and-   
  
“AHH! Ronaldo! There’s a child in here!”   
  
“Oh, whoops! Sorry!” Lars’ ass wasn’t a towel either. This might be harder than he thought.   
  
While Lars was continuing with Emily’s bath, he found himself getting rather distracted by how cute she was. She would dive under the surface and pop back out with bubbles in her hair and a wide gleeful smile on her face. The gemling’s cuteness was so distracting that he didn’t notice just how many bubbles were forming until he felt his jeans starting to dampen and looked down. Pink foamy bubbles and water were flowing over the top of the sink and onto the floor rapidly, making it slicker than an ice skating rink.   
  
“GAAAH!!!” He was rushing to turn the water off, when another hand reached it before he did.   
  
“Is this a towel-oh no!” Ronaldo felt himself starting to slip and gripped the object in his hand as tightly as he could to prevent himself from doing so. However, his plan failed when the knob broke off in his hand, and he plummeted to the floor with it grasped in his hand.   
  
“AHH! RONALDO!!!” The captain yelled, panicked as he saw just how quickly the ship was filling up with pink suds. “Oh god, what do we do, what do we do, what do we d-”   
  
“Hey, here’s a towel! Thanks, Lars!” Ronaldo grabbed the rag from his partner’s hand.   
  
“No, wait! That’s-”   
  
“AHHHHHHHHH!!!” Ronaldo let out an ear-splitting scream when he realized a little too late that the towel he’d grabbed was the wash rag Lars had been using to bathe Emily. “WHEN WILL MY SUFFERING END!?”

“Emily?” Lars was wading through the bubbles that were now coming up to his neck.

“Buhbuh!” she squeaked in laughter as she was carried along with the foamy water away from the sink.

“Captain what is this?!” Rhodonite yelled from the galley. 

“Captain, we can't see!” yelped one of the Rutiles.

“I predict Lars and Ronaldo's attempt to bathe Emily will cause the sink to overflow!”

“Okay twins, land the ship on the closest land mass!” Lars called as he tried not to choke on bubbles.

“Lars where are you?” Ronaldo called, buried completely.

“I...don’t know?”

It took several minutes for the twins to land on a moon, and Lars yelled at everyone to get out. Immediately when the hatch opened, water rushed from the ship, washing almost everyone out by default. Soaked and frazzled, Ronaldo and Lars looked at each other, then upwards as they heard giggles, and Emily floated over them in a giant bubble. It popped right above their heads, and Ronaldo caught her in his arms.   
  
“Heh…” The first mate smiled nervously at Lars, his eyes still red from the soap. “So that...didn’t end well…”   
  
“Ya think?” Lars asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.   
  
Ronaldo sighed, glancing to Emily. She was looking at him with an adorable smile, but he didn’t feel like he deserved it. All the doubt that was starting to ebb away suddenly came back and slammed into him at full force, until he could no longer hold the tiny gem and gave her to Lars.    
  
“I’m sorry, Lars,” Ronaldo said, trying not to tear up in frustration. “I thought I was ready. But of course, I screwed it up.” He groaned loudly. “Ugh, I can’t even give her a bath right! I just ended up making a scene and flooding the ship....I guess I’m really not cut out to be a father after all.”    
  
He looked away and shut his eyes, half because the disappointment he felt for himself was too much to bear and half because they still hurt like hell. “I’m sorry.”

Lars realized his response to him might have been a bit too far on the harsh side. He reached a hand out to gently pat his partner on the shoulder. “Oh, Ronnie. Don’t worry about-”   
  
“Papa?”   
  
“I’m right here, Emily. Don’t worry. Anyway, it’s not your-”   
  
“Papa? Papa!?”   
  
“What’s wrong, Em-ohhh….”    
  
When Lars looked down to the tiny Emerald, he saw that her hands were stretched out in front of her and making grabbing motions. They were pointed in Ronaldo’s general direction, along with her eyes.   
  
“Papa…?”   
  
“What is it?” Ronaldo asked, still not turning to face them. “Did you put her down?”   
  
A smile stretched across Lars’ mouth. “Nah. She’s not talking to me.”

Ronaldo’s stare widened and focused on the ground. His stinging red eyes made it hard to be clear, but he was pretty sure Emily was grabbing for him, chirping for his attention.

“Papa!” she squeaked again.

“Wh-? Is she calling me that?” Ronaldo was almost in disbelief.

“Congrats!” Lars said with a grin. “You don’t absolutely suck at this. If she considers you her other papa, I think you’re fine.”

“Papa,” Emily squeaked in agreement, climbing onto Ronaldo’s leg with her claws unsheathed.

Ronaldo smiled, even as he was wincing in pain. “G-great. That...does actually make me feel better.”

“Besides,” Lars snickered, “it’s not the first time I’ve had bathtime disasters with her. She’s like a miniature Kraken.”

She gave a tiny roar to confirm it as she settled into Ronaldo’s arms, already starting to get fluffy from her fur drying off.

“Oh my god, I can hardly see her, and I know she’s being ridiculously cute,” Ronaldo snorted, a goofy smile growing on his face.

“That makes for two of you.” Lars kissed his cheek.

_ So, it's one more round for experience _

_ And I'm on the road again _

_ And it's going to take some time this time _

  
  
  
  



	25. That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be

_ But you say it's time we moved in together _

_ And raised a family of our own, you and me _

A few days had passed since the bubble bath incident, and Ronaldo was starting to make progress. He wasn’t one hundred percent there yet, but he had come a long way since the first few months that Emily was on board. Lars was very proud of him, as was the rest of the crew. He was even rather proud of himself.    
  
The two of them were currently in their shared room. It was time for Emily’s nap, and Ronaldo was calming her down so she wouldn’t cause any problems.    
  
“I gotta confess,” the first mate spoke, Emily cradled contently in his arms and biting on a tattered stuffed toy, “I never thought I’d be able to do this.”   
  
Lars smiled warmly, heart swelling as he watched his boyfriend get along so well with the gem who had become his-no, their-daughter. “If we’re being honest here, me too. But, hey. Look at you now.”    
  
Ronaldo giggled, looking down to find that the gemling had stopped chewing on the toy and was now simply holding it in her arms, her eyes starting to close. “I think it’s time to put her down.”   
  
“Me too,” Lars agreed, and Ronaldo set the small gem down on their bed and tucked her in. She snuggled into the covers with a smile, her eyes finally shutting as she made a soft sighing sound that signalled her drifting off to sleep. Lars motioned for Ronaldo to follow him out of the room and turned the lights off.    
  
Once they were in front of their closed door, they both signed in relief. “She was out like a light,” Ronaldo commented.    
  
“No kidding,” Lars chuckled, looking over his shoulder. “Heh. Kinda wish she had her own bed though.”   
  
“You can say that again.” The first mate yawned. “My back hurts from having to sleep in the chair while she’s using ours. We’ll have to get her a cat bed or something the next time we go to Beach City.”   
  
The smile on the captain’s face suddenly fell slightly, and he tried to mask it with another lighthearted snicker. “Yeah. That’d probably work.”   


The last time he’d seen his parents was almost eight months ago, just a few weeks before he found Emily. And even though he’d visited Earth for sake of tuning the ship up and dropping off gem rescuees, he hadn’t visited Beach City itself or kept his parents up to date on everything. And especially not about Emily. He really didn’t know how he was going to break the news to them that they were technically grandparents now, and that he was more or less a father who would be watching his child grow up while he never grew up himself.

And then there was everyone else on Earth. Lars had told Steven and Connie not to discuss Emily with anyone back home. He trusted that Connie could keep a secret, as well as keep Steven in line so he wouldn’t go blabbing it to everyone. Hopefully, he was right.

Lars began to think deeply. If they somehow did already know about this, he had no idea what they were expecting, and he didn’t want them to think he was acting irresponsibly. Or endangering a child. 

Suddenly, he began to feel even more anxious about the whole matter. Lars wanted to make his case that he was doing the best he could for Emily, and he wasn’t the stupid, reckless teenage boy everyone back home probably thought he was. And that he certainly wasn’t trying to avoid introducing them to his adorable baby girl!   
  
Perhaps a visit to Beach City was long overdue after all.   
  
“Anyway,” Ronaldo interrupted his thoughts, startling Lars slightly, “I’ve been thinking about….something.” He clasped his hands together anxiously.    
  
“Oh?” Lars turned to him but still wasn’t paying full attention with the thoughts suddenly swarming his brain. “What?”   
  
“It’s nothing much,” the first mate laughed, starting to play with his hair. “I was just thinking about how, with Emily and the crew and all that, it’s been a while since the two of us have...y’know…”   
  
The captain tried to make sense of what Ronaldo was saying, and when he finally thought he understood, his eyes opened wide in shock. “Have you lost your mind!? Emily’s in our bed right now! We can’t just throw her out for-”   
  
“No, no, no, no, no! Not that; not that at all!” Ronaldo waved his hands together, quickly trying to get his point across. “I was gonna say that it’s been a while since we’ve been on a date!”   
  
“Ohhhh…”   
  
“Yeah,” Ronaldo continued, blushing. “And that we could totally do that soon. I mean, the Rutiles said we’re almost at the prison planet, so like...I was thinking we could sneak away while they’re dropping off gems and have a day to ourselves? They can come and pick us up when we’re done! We could go somewhere romantic like Paris or Italy or...oh! We could even go to Tokyo! They have these little cafes with cats, and I know you really like cats, and they also have a bunch of….”   
  
As Ronaldo rambled, as endearing as Lars found his proposal, he caught himself getting lost in the thoughts that had appeared in his mind earlier. What if his parents were mad at him for not visiting for so long? It had been much longer than it normally was. Would that make them even more mad about Emily? Would they even be mad about Emily? His mom did say to let her know in advance if she was ever going to be a grandmother.    
  
Also, he’d have to explain it to his friends. He wasn’t too concerned with how the cool kids saw him anymore since he hardly talked to them and had gotten to know them better, but having an alien baby isn’t exactly something he ever foresaw having to explain to them. Did the Crystal Gems know already? What if they thought Emily would grow up to be a threat and tried to bubble her? How would he explain it to Sadie?   
  
Oh. That one wouldn’t go over well.    
  
Although they were definitely nothing but friends now, Lars couldn’t help but feel guilty for a lot of things that happened during the time when they thought they could be more. He’d still vowed to be her best friend, which he was glad to be, and she’d been super accepting of his relationship with Ronaldo. Sadie told him she was happy for him, but what if she didn’t mean that? What if she secretly resented him and thought he was leading her on or something? Plus, what kind of a best friend adopts a child and doesn’t even say a word about it to the other one for so many months?   
  
“But yeah, Australia actually has some romantic getaways too! I know you wouldn’t think that upon first glance, but that’s just because you won’t watch Koala Princess with me which is probably the biggest mistake you’re making in your life, buuuut I won’t get into that right now.” Ronaldo paused his anxious rambling to laugh. “It’s funny. I ran this past the Zircons today, and they asked why I hadn’t asked you yet when I said I’d meant to three trips ago. Heh. For some reason, even though you’re my boyfriend, and we have a kid and all now, I thought you’d say-”   
  
“No. We have to go to Beach City tomorrow.”

“Perfect! I’ll go pack us some-wait, what!?”

“We gotta get there by tomorrow. We’ve already been away for too long.”

“Lars, we’re on course to a rescue mission!”

“And?” Lars impatiently tapped his foot.

“Goodness, you’re antsy!” Ronaldo shook his head with a disapproving look. “Would you just calm down a little? We can go to Beach City next week. What’s the difference?”

“No! We have to go now!” Lars glared at him. “I haven’t told my parents or anyone except Steven and Connie about Emily, and I don’t want people getting wrong ideas or thinking I’m making some sort of mistake!”

“And you just realized this after how many months?” Ronaldo crossed his arms. “Would you just relax? Nobody’s said anything about it, and I don’t think Steven’s told anyone.”

“We don’t know that! That’s why we have to go. I don’t want to bring Emily to Earth and have the Crystal Gems try to put her in a bubble.”

Ronaldo groaned in exasperation, amazed he was the rational one this time. “That’s not going to happen.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Captain,” one of the Rutiles piped up, “I hate to interrupt, but we’re less than forty-eight hours away from the prison planet.”   
  
The other one nodded in agreement. “Turning around would put us back by-”

“I’ll take my new shuttle then! It’s the fastest and sturdiest one yet!” Lars tried his best to fake confidence. “Ron will be in charge of the rescue mission, and I’ll-”

“Oh no, no, no,” Ronaldo cut him off. “If you’re going to Earth, then I’m going too. We’ll use the two-person shuttle we built.”

“Ronnie, we haven’t tested it yet,” Lars replied, looking uncertain.

“It’ll be fine. Besides, Emily’s my kid too. Right?” He condescendingly raised a brow.

“Fine.” Lars screwed his eyes shut, rubbing his forehead. “Okay. Blue and Yellow are in charge of the mission. Fluorite and Rhodonite, you both take turns looking after Emily. I’ll leave out everything you need.”   
  
“She’s not going with you?” asked Rhodonite.   
  
“I don’t want to take her in the shuttle,” Lars sighed. “It’s too risky. Once you’ve completed the mission, we’ll meet you on Earth. Got it?”

“Yes, Captain!” the crew agreed with the exception of Ronaldo, who was glancing aside and looking rather uncertain.

“Lars...are you really sure we should-”

“Yes! Now grab whatever you want to take with you and meet me in the docking bay in two hours.”   
  
Ronaldo lingered for a while, giving Lars an unreadable stare that was somewhere between concern and anger. After a while, he breathed out through his nose, as if to stop himself from going off and nodded. “Alright. Fine. See you then.”   
  
Lars, although slightly taken aback by the other’s reaction, narrowed his eyes before walking away without another word.   
  
While Lars went about the ship making sure everything was okay and gave Fluorite and Rhodonite instructions on how to look after Emily during his absence, Ronaldo did his share of packing. Once it was Lars’ turn for that, he walked past his boyfriend having a conversation with the Zircons. He tried to flash him a smile, but the captain didn’t feel like returning it for some reason. As soon as he passed him, he mentally kicked himself for not smiling back.   
  
He packed light, knowing that he still had plenty of clothes and snacks and whatnot back at his house. There also wasn’t much room for luggage on the shuttle they were using. When he thought he was done packing and was about to board, a small noise startled him.   
  
“Papa?”   
  
Lars’ head whipped around to see Emily, stretching awake and looking at him with her giant eyes. His heart ached when he realized that he’d have to spend a while without her. As much as he wanted to bring his daughter, he knew it’d be best to make sure she was safe there. Hopefully she would understand and not think her fathers had abandoned her.   
  
“Hey there, Em,” Lars spoke softly, walking up to the gemling. “Papa’s gotta go away for a few days. But he’ll be back! With more family! You’ll like that, won’tcha?”   
  
The raise in his tone caused Emily to laugh, reaching her hands up to insinuate wanting to be held. Lars sighed happily, picking her up and hugging her tight to his chest. He felt tears threaten to leave his eyes and swallowed hard, not wanting to cry in front of his daughter and make her upset too. He placed a small kiss on her forehead before putting her back down on the bed, knowing it was best to be on his way now.   
  
“I’ll be back before you know it,” he reassured her. “Be good for Fluorite and Rhodonite, okay?”   
  
“Papa!” she squeaked with a nod.    
  
Lars smiled weakly. He wasn’t sure if she understood, but hopefully, she’d be just fine. After all, he’d only be away from her for a few days. He just needed to keep reminding himself that.    
  
“Papa loves you, Emily,” he whispered to the tiny Emerald before taking his suitcase and shutting the room to his door, leaving her to resume her nap.   
  
Heart still heavy from having to say goodbye to Emily, Lars took a deep breath to prevent any tears from leaking out of his eyes and walked toward where he kept his personal shuttles. On the way there, he stopped by the galley to say his goodbyes to the rest of the crew and make sure everyone knew what their role was when he was gone. Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen in the galley, but Lars assumed he was probably either saying goodbye to Emily or picking up a few extra things. 

As Lars walked to the area where he’d board the shuttle, he kept trying to remind himself that it was only a few days away from Emily and the rest of the crew. Plus, he had Ronaldo. Everything would be okay if Ronaldo was by his side. That’s how it should be, right?    
  
He sighed. Of course that’s how it should be, but for some reason, no matter who was with him, Lars hardly ever felt okay when something was stressing him out. He didn’t blame Ronaldo for being mad at him for it either.   
  
When he entered the boarding area, the captain was surprised to see that his first mate was standing by the ship already. “Hey!” he greeted him, a mix of nervous and shocked.   
  
Ronaldo jumped, startled by hearing Lars’ voice. It was obvious that the hadn’t been expecting him. “Oh!” Once the surprise had settled in, the first mate looked away. “Hey. I’m ready.”   
  
Lars’ smile dropped, realizing that the other still sounded distant. “Oh. Okay...let’s go then.”   
  
“Yeah.”

Hopping in the shuttle, Lars waited for Ronaldo to plop beside him and glanced over. “You have some pictures of Emily on your phone right?”

“A few. Why?”

“Eh. I need something to show them.” Lars glanced out the window with a distant look. “Ready to launch?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Ronaldo was awkwardly looking at his lap as he strapped himself in, trying to get comfortable in the seat. “Did you get these chairs out of Fish Stew Pizza? They’re terrible.”

“Har-dee-har,” Lars fake-laughed, firing up the engines. “Put the coordinates in, and I’ll call for the Zircons to open the dock.”

Ronaldo silently punched in the numbers and glanced to Lars. “Ready.”

Lars glanced back at him, and gave the tiniest sliver of a smile before staring ahead, and radioed the ship, “Alright, Blue Moon, Yellow Star. Launch us out of here!”

“Got it!” the Zircons both called out.

“Good luck!” Blue cheered.

“Don’t crash  _ this _ shuttle too!” Yellow snickered.

“Great, thanks, bye!” Lars huffed, quick to floor it on the gas pedal once the ship was launched.   
  
The captain gripped the controls tightly. “Okay, Ron, here’s the game plan. Once we reach this checkpoint on the starmap, we set the ship to hyperspeed and-Ronaldo?”    
  
He noticed that his boyfriend staring out the window blankly and snapped his fingers. “No time for having a stroke, hon. I need you to pay attention here.”

“Uh-...oh! Sorry,” Ronaldo sighed, shaking his head. “What’d you say?”

“We’re gonna hit hyperspeed when we reach this checkpoint, so pay attention to the navigation and be ready to work the controls when we get there.”

“I got it, I got it,” Ronaldo mumbled, almost irritated at how bossy Lars was being. “I mean, you have tested the hyperspeed controls on this thing, right?”

“Ronaldo, we haven’t tested anything on this metal hunk of crap, but we have to trust that it’ll get us to Earth in one piece!”   
  
“Okay, okay!” Ronaldo winced. “No need to be a dick about it.”   
  
“Whatever.”    
  
Lars rolled his eyes, looking out the window in silence and searching for the checkpoint. When he finally noticed it, he nudged Ronaldo’s shoulder. “There it is! Hyperspeed, here we go!”

The captain pressed the button that would spend the ship flying into hyperspeed, and soon enough, they were off. For the first few minutes of travel, Lars relaxed in his seat and tried his hardest to ignore the tension between him and his partner. Instead, he focused on the stars zooming past him at the speed of light. It wasn’t until Ronaldo tapped him on the shoulder that he realized something was wrong and felt a sensation akin to a rock sinking in his stomach.   
  
“Hey uhhhh,” the first mate whimpered, “is it supposed to do that?”   
  
“Do what?”   
  
Ronaldo pointed to the side of the ship, where one of the metal fins had fallen off and burst into flames.    
  
Lars’ smile soon turned to a panicked frown. “That would be a no.”   
  
As soon as he spoke, alarms began ringing throughout the ship, alerting them that something wasn’t right. The captain started to feel it give way and wondered if he should start looking for the nearest planet. But when he looked in front of him, he saw that Earth was right in their grasp. They couldn’t give up now.

“Lars, what are we gonna do!?” Ronaldo sounded utterly panicked, and the captain felt his hand reach for his own. He pulled it back.   
  
“Hold on! We’re gonna get to Earth!”    
  
Just as he said that, a loud bang was heard from the other side of the ship, and the scent of smoke made its way into the cockpit, letting them know that it was suffering from serious engine failure. He lost control of the ship entirely, as it began to spiral down toward the planet. Lars tried his best to steer it, but it was no use.   
  
“Oh god, we’re gonna die!” Ronaldo screamed, shutting his eyes tightly and gripping onto Lars as he tried to wait for the inevitable.

Lars realized the controls were just as dead as they were going to be in less than a minute, and as they neared closer and closer to impact, all he could do was scream.   
  


_ Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be _

_ You want to marry me _

_ We'll marry... _

 


	26. Only Love is Real

_ Only love is real _

_ Everything else illusion _

_ Adding to the confusion of the way we connive _

_ At being alive _

Ronaldo opened his eyes in time to be engulfed by a brilliant flash of light as Lars tugged him through the impromptu portal he’d made with his screaming. In less than a second, instead of fiery death and shrapnel, he was face-first in a mound of warm sand, Lars landing right on top of him.

Spitting out sand as he sat up, Ronaldo coughed in relief upon realizing that he was still alive and not covered in third degree burns with metal wedged in his intestines. Leaping up onto his feet while Lars was still staggering to get up, he lifted his fists into the air and laughed maniacally in glee. “We’re alive! We’re ALIVE!!! WE’RE-”

He was cut off by Lars shoving him out of the way and tackling him as they narrowly avoided getting hit by the flaming shuttle that just met up with them and soon exploded right on the shore. It was fantastic.

Lars stared at the flaming wreckage with a blank stare for several long seconds before lifting his hands to give slow, condescending claps to their failure.

“Well, er…” Ronaldo rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t pack anything, if that helps.”

“I had my favorite jeans in there,” Lars muttered, rubbing his forehead. He turned away from the flames, trying to get a good look around where they’d landed. However, as soon as his eyes caught sight of palm trees and endless ocean along the horizon, knots formed in his stomach.

“Oh….ohhh no,” he breathed.

When Ronaldo finally got over the initial shock of their crash landing, he got a chance to look around at the scenery around them. Upon feeling the ocean breeze through his hair and the warm sand underneath his feet, he couldn’t help but smile despite their not-so-lucky condition. 

“Hey, would you look at that. We’re on an island! Not the worst of places to be stranded, huh?” He nudged the captain’s side with his elbow. “Especially since we don’t need to eat as often.”

But Lars didn’t answer him. Instead, he stood completely still and stared at the shore with an unreadable expression. 

“Uh...Lars?”

The captain remained frozen.

“Helloooo? Earth to Lars? Heh, get it because we’re on-”

He held a hand to Ronaldo in an attempt to silence him and slowly sat down in the sand, still looking right into the sea.

That was odd. He figured that Lars would be mapping their every move out loud and trying to come up with a game plan to get them off the island. That’s what he did in similar situations, such as when they’d been looking for the Zircons on Alpha Prison 9. Instead, he was doing nothing but staring straight ahead with that strange blank expression on his face.

Ronaldo decided to get a bit closer. “Hey...you alright? Have you been here before? Because-”

“Go set up shelter.”

The first mate was taken by surprise when he heard his captain’s cold tone. “H-Huh?”

“Go make a tent or something. I’ll be right here.”

“Okaaaay…” Ronaldo rocked back and forth anxiously. “Don’t you wanna help? Maybe you and I could plan out how we’re gonna contact the crew and-”

“No. Now go.”

“Oh...alright.” Ronaldo felt his heart sink as he trudged away from Lars. “Hope you’ll be okay…”

“Sure.” Lars didn’t even look at him.

A ball of anxiety began to settle in Ronaldo’s stomach as he walked onto the grassier patch of the island, some place that would be nicer to settle than near the water. He looked back to see Lars still sitting in place, facing the ocean and gulped. His partner’s tone had been pretty worrisome when he dismissed him, and Ronaldo didn’t know what it meant. He was trying to rationalize that, hey, maybe Lars was just really deep in thought or upset about the ship. But there was a deep seed of worry planted in the first mate’s stomach that maybe those thoughts Lars were having were about him….and he was making decisions about their relationship.

He’d been in an endless loop of rational and irrational thought, almost unconscious to what his hands were doing. But when he was snapped to the present by a loud noise, he saw his shoddy attempt of a tent: a stick with leaves impaled around it like a tipi. Ronaldo frowned, embarrassed at his own lack of skill. 

His ears itched as he tried to identify the sound he’d heard that snapped him out of his trance, wondering if there was even a sound at all. But then he heard it again. A furious shout that sounded as if it belonged to a fatally wounded animal. Ronaldo’s blood ran cold, and he turned his head to look at where he’d left Lars. However, he was no longer there.

Before he could run to look for him and see if he was alright, a blast of light right in the middle of the leaf tipi he’d made caused it to fall apart. Lars darted out of a portal, breathing heavily.

“Lars?” Ronaldo looked at his frantic boyfriend, who shook his head furiously and screamed again, creating another portal and running through it before he could say anything else.

Over the course of a couple minutes, Ronaldo heard several screams, some close, some far and tried to keep up with Lars. When a portal appeared over the collapsed leaves he’d been building with, he locked his eyes with the captain once he reappeared.

Lars froze in place, staring at Ronaldo, then the leaves and then the ocean. He screamed a curse, collapsing onto his knees.

“Lars, what the heck are you doing!?”

“I want to go home!” Lars screamed, a choked sob in his throat.   
  
“Lars!” Ronaldo exclaimed in horror, rushing over to him cautiously. “What’s wrong!?”   
  
The captain continued sobbing, curling up in a pitiful ball on the ground. “I-I want to go home…”

Ronaldo’s heart sank as he saw his partner in such a state, and he bit into his lip, trying to keep himself from tearing up at the sight of it. He calmly sat down next to Lars, reaching out a hand to carefully stroke his back. The captain briefly looked up at him, still blinking tears away from his eyes. His gaze was unreadable, but he didn’t try to shove Ronaldo away.   
  
“Lars,” he said comfortingly, “it’s gonna be okay. I know we’ve found ourselves in a pretty sticky situation, but it’s not the end of it. The crew’s gonna rescue us. I just know they will. Then, we can go to Beach City and see your parents and your friends and your  _ home _ . And until then, we’ve got each other, right?”   
  
The captain sat more upright, still clutching his knees and sniffing away tears. He stopped looking at Ronaldo but didn’t do anything about the hand on his back or the other hand reaching in to pull him into an embrace.    
  
“I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you here. I promise,” Ronaldo whispered.    
  
Lars found himself giving in to Ronaldo’s comforting words and edged a bit closer to him, but he still couldn’t stop tears from leaking out of his eyes. He allowed himself to look up at the other, a terrified and shocked expression on his face. The two locked eyes like that for a while, one sniffing back tears and the other trying his hardest to crack a gentle smile despite the situation.    
  
Given what he normally did in times of panic like this, when he knew Lars needed comforting the most, Ronaldo found himself gently leaning in to place a soft kiss on his partner’s lips. He allowed their faces to get closer, moving the hand that was stroking Lars’ back up to his neck, and suddenly…   
  
“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!”   
  
Ronaldo jumped back at Lars’ outburst and almost fell over as the other shot up on his feet and turned to run. However, before he could, the heat of the moment and desperation to know why he’d blown up at him caused Ronaldo to grab his hand. Lars frantically pulled it away from him as if his hand was some caught in kind of trap.   
  
“No!” Lars snarled at him. “I said get the hell away from me! I’m not gonna let you do this to me, Ronaldo!”   
  
The first mate looked up at his partner with desperate horror in his eyes, his guts knotting up in fear. “Do  _ w-what _ do you!?”   
  
Lars was shaking with fury, tears still streaming from his bloodshot eyes. “I’m not gonna let you trap me here!”   
  
“What do you mean?” Ronaldo asked, tears welling up in his eyes. “How am I trapping you? What did I do wrong!?”   
  
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Lars hissed, voice cold and sour. “I know what you did, and so do you! You tampered with the controls of the ship, so you could trap me on a fucking island because I wouldn’t go on that stupid date with you! Didn’t you?”   
  
There was a brief moment of silence as Ronaldo took in what he’d just been accused of. “Wh...why would I do that to you!?”   
  
“Because you want me to change! I pissed you off, and you think I deserve this! Maybe I do; who the hell knows!?”

“What?! Why would I-”

“Sadie did!”

Ronaldo drew in a deep breath to actually take in what Lars was saying. “.....What?”

Lars opened his mouth again, ready to retort, but no words came out. Insead, his eyes welled up with horrified realization at what he was saying, and another sob broke from his mouth as he tried to cover his face.

“Lars?”

“I’m sorry!” he sobbed hard into his hands. “I’m sorry! I kn-know you didn’t-”

“Lars.” Ronaldo shook his head in disbelief. “What the hell is going on? What is this about Sadie?”

Rubbing his face and trying to catch his breath as he cried, Lars sniffled before speaking. “Wh-when I was still living in Beach City, Steven took me and Sadie on an island, and she hid the warp pad so we were stuck there for over a week. I was so freaked out the whole time, and she pretended like everything was going to be alright and gave me hugs and...stuff, but when I found out she lied to me, she acted like it was my fault! That...if I just acted like how she wanted me to, then maybe she wouldn’t have trapped me there! And y’know? Maybe she was right! I deserved to be trapped on that island. I deserve to be trapped here.”

“Wh- Lars, no!” Ronaldo gripped his shoulders, gently shaking him. “You didn’t deserve that, and you don’t deserve...any of this! And I wouldn’t dream of forcing you to stay any place you didn’t want to be!”

“I-I know,” Lars croaked miserably, rubbing his nose. “Ugh...I’m sorry I said all of that or even thought about it in the first place. I just-”

“I know,” Ronaldo murmured, pulling him into a hug and rubbing his back. “It probably felt a lot like what happened with Sadie..which…I had no idea whatsoever about. Why didn’t you ever tell me about that?”

“I don’t know,” Lars sighed. “I guess I didn’t think it was a big deal. Or that you wouldn’t believe me when I told you. Or that you’d think I deserved it too.” He looked to the ground. “Steven just sort of forgot about it, and whenever I did bring it up with Sadie, she acted like it never happened or that I was overreacting.”

“Well,” Ronaldo whispered, kissing the top of his head and nuzzling the fluffy curls there, “I believe you. One hundred percent.”

“Thanks,” Lars murmured wetly against his shoulder, still blinking away tears. “Sometimes it felt like everyone in Beach City forgot I have feelings.”

“Yeah,” Ronaldo sighed. “I can relate to that.”

Lars pulled back to look at Ronaldo, giving him a teary smile. “I love you. So fucking much, okay? You’re one of the kindest, sweetest people I’ve ever met. Not to mention, you’re also cute as fuck. And I know I make fun of it all the time, but I love your weirdness so much too.” He gave a weak giggle, nuzzling his face into Ronaldo’s chest. “I don’t ever want you to think I hate you or-”

“I could never think that,” Ronaldo assured, hugging Lars tight. “I love you too much.”   
  
“Same here,” Lars replied, rolling over so that he was lying across Ronaldo’s lap as the he played with his hair. “I really am sorry, though. For all the horrible things I did back on Earth. All the horrible things I did to Sadie and Steven and my parents and...well, you. I really was horrible, and everyone always reminded me of it.”   
  
“Hey,” Ronaldo cut in, gently squeezing his shoulder, “I wasn’t exactly the best friend to you either. I still feel awful for what happened at the lighthouse that night. I just wanna go back in time and stop it.” He glanced away, suddenly unable to look at Lars.   
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Lars laughed, poking his side. “All that stuff’s behind us.”   
  
“I know, but...I just hate being one of those people who made you feel horrible, even if it is okay now.” Ronaldo hung his head.   
  
Lars rolled over to make eye contact with his partner. “Yeah, but you’re the only one of them who ever apologized for it.”   
  
The first mate’s expression gradually softened at Lars’ words, and he gave him a gentle smile. However, it fell soon after. “But still, you’re not horrible. I promise. You never were, no matter what stupid things I probably said to you back then.”   
  
The captain exhaled heavily. “If that’s the case, then why does everyone make me feel like I am?”   
  
Ronaldo screwed up his face in thought for a moment. “Well...have the Off Colors ever made you feel that way?”   
  
Lars recoiled as if he couldn’t believe what Ronaldo was asking. “No! Of course not! They’d never do anything like that.”   
  
The first mate replied to this statement with another warm smile. “Well then,” he said, ruffling Lars’ hair, “guess that means you know who your real friends are now.”   


Lars stared at him with wide eyes, and a small smile slowly grew on his face. “...Y'know? Yeah. I do!”

Pulling Ronaldo into a gentle kiss, he cuddled up to him and relaxed as he stared at the ocean. “It...actually is really nice here. I mean I'm not eager about being stranded but….mmm...with you I think it's a lot better.” He nuzzled against his boyfriend's chest. “Did you get the shelter set up?”

“It fell,” Ronaldo spoke, tone dreamy.

“Oh well.”   
  
“It’s actually not that bad out here if you’re not opposed to sleeping outdoors.” Ronaldo looked around, noticing that the sun was just starting to set in front of them. Soon enough, the two would be sheltered by the blanket of stars they normally traveled throughout.    
  
“Hmmmm...sure, why not. As long as I have you to warm me.” Lars snuggled closer into Ronaldo’s arms, sighing happily.    
  
“That you do,” Ronaldo assured him, leaning to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead before stopping himself. “Wait, do you not want to be kissed right now? Because I could just-”   
  
“C’mere you.” Lars leaned forward and slammed his face against his boyfriend’s, pulling him into a passionate kiss. They held it for as long as they could before both had to reluctantly break for air.    
  
They stayed there like that, as close as possible and watching the sunset. A few minutes later, Lars decided to fish the tape player out of his pocket, where he’d stowed it away for safekeeping during the crash. It was a bit scratched but overall okay. He pressed play and sighed as the relaxing tune filled his ears, making it so easy to drift off to sleep in his partner’s arms.   
  
As he was doing so, he could make out the gentle voice of Ronaldo humming along to the tune. He wasn’t sure if he knew he could hear him or if he thought Lars was already asleep, but it was the most beautiful sound he’d heard in so long. Perhaps ever.

Ronaldo and Lars spent the rest of the night as close as they possibly could be, not content to be stranded but at least glad that they had one another. 

_ Tracing a line till we can define _

_ The thing that allows us to feel _

_ Only love is real _


	27. I Don't Want To Know

_ I don't want to know the reasons why  
Love keeps right on walking on down the line _

The next day, when Lars woke on the island, he was expecting to see the same thing he’d fallen asleep to: an ocean and shore stretching out for miles and his boyfriend’s arms wrapped tightly around him. He visioned it to be a rather peaceful awakening, something that he was almost looking forward to. What he didn’t expect was to be jolted awake by the sound of a loud ship engine and Ronaldo shaking him and screaming his name.   
  
“LARS! WAKE UP!!! WE’RE SAFE! THE OFF COLORS ARE HERE! WE’RE NOT GONNA DIE HERE! WE’RE GONNA GO HOME! I DON’T HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO COOK!!!”   
  
Groggily, Lars cracked his eyes open and stared into the overly enthusiastic face of the boy who had him by the shoulders. “Wh…?”   
  
“There they are!”   
  
“Lars! Ronaldo!”   
  
“Oh, thank the stars! You’re alive!”   
  
The captain’s eyes widened, and a shocked grin appeared on his face when he realized the noises were coming from a familiar parked spaceship in front of him. Ronaldo let got of his shoulders and grabbed his hand, helping Lars to his feet before rushing over to the ship while dragging him by his arm.    
  
“Guys!” Ronaldo cheered, running over to Blue Moon and Yellow Star, who had just walked out of the ship. “How did you find us!?”   
  
“Yeah,” Lars followed up, yawning and gently yanking his arm away from Ronaldo. His wrist was getting sore.   
  
“Oh, you should’ve been there!” Yellow laughed. “We were almost at the prison planet when Padparadscha suddenly yells something about how you two are stranded on an Earth island and need help immediately. So, of course, we have to rush to abandon the mission because we can’t just leave our captain and first mate to die!”   
  
“Luckily, the tracker on the ship you built survived,” Blue followed up. “It was underwater, and for a second, we were scared you’d both drowned. But then Fluorite said she saw something on the shore, and there you were!”   
  
“The brave, ferocious Blue Moon here was wailing when she thought you two were dead,” Yellow jided, earning a stern glare from the other.   
  
“Aww, guys,” Lars sighed, grinning and running a hand down his neck. “I’m sorry we made you drop the mission. I get it if you’re mad, or-”   
  
“Mad!? Lars, we have all the time in the world to go on missions!” Blue assured him.    
  
“What matters now is that you two aren’t dead,” Yellow said with a nod.    
  
“Yep!” Ronaldo gave Lars a gentle nudge to reassure him that it was okay.   


“Well...alrighty then!” Lars laughed in relief, hopping up the steps into the ship. “Let’s get this big boy flying! We can make it to Beach City in two hours if we avoid all air traffic. It’d be four minutes in hyperspeed, but I don’t wanna be responsible for an airplane getting knocked outta the sky!”

“...The captain is really eager to get home, isn’t he?” Rutile asked her twin, who nodded.

“Well, you heard the man!” Ronaldo clapped his hands. “Everyone on board!”

Once the ship was airborne again, Ronaldo glanced over to Lars, sat in the captain seat with Emily on his lap and a faraway grin on his face as he played with her hands.

“You’re in a good mood.” Ronaldo smiled at him. “Excited to get back home?”

“Yeah. It’ll be nice to take a few days and rest.”

“...Are you still worried about Emily?”

Lars’ expression changed, almost as if he’d forgotten about it. “Oh...uhm...yeah. A little,” he admitted, looking at his daughter as she belly flopped onto his lap and pressed her chubby little face against his leg. “But...it should be okay if we both sit in on it.”

“Yeah,” Ronaldo agreed, scooping up Emily so he could put her on his head. “And we’ve got Emily in person to seal the deal.”

“That’s right,” Lars laughed. “My parents won’t be able to be anything but excited about that!”

“And my dad!” Ronaldo cheered. “And Peedee!”

“Sadie is sure gonna have a time figuring out the logistics, that’s for sure.” Lars cracked a giggle.

Ronaldo’s smile faltered a moment. “Yeah. Sadie.”

Ronaldo had a few  _ choice words _ for Sadie. Especially after what Lars revealed to him on the island.

“She’s probably gonna want a scary movie night or something,” Lars suggested, unaware of Ronaldo’s quiet, subtle fury or the confusion that he could even want to spend time with her after everything he’d told him.

“That...should be fun.” Ronaldo swallowed down his tension and pulled Emily off his head to cradle her for the rest of the flight. Somehow, her batting at the loose curls on his head made him feel a whole lot better.

Eventually, the ship was descending towards the familiar shoreline that was Beach City, and Lars reached over to grip Ronaldo’s hand. “Ready for this?”   
  
Ronaldo noticed and squeezed his partner’s hand back firmly. “Yeah. Ready.”   
  
“Captain!” one of the Rutiles called.   
  
“We’re landing!”   
  
The two pink boys looked at one another and nodded their heads in unison. “Okay!”   
  
As the ship landed on the familiar shores, the two exhaled deeply and prepared to step onto the sand. Before they could, Lars felt Fluorite’s hand on his shoulder and turned around to the leisurely fusion.   
  
“ _ Do  you want  me to stay  behind and watch  Emily until after you’ve  told your parents? _ ” she asked.   
  
He looked to the gemling in Ronaldo’s arms and thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. “Yeah, that’ll probably blow over well. I’ll come back in a few hours.”   
  
The first mate set her gently on Fluorite’s back. “Don’t worry, Em,” he reassured her, tapping her nose, “we won’t get stranded on an island this time.”   
  
“Papa!” the small green gem exclaimed, contently snuggling up to the fusion.   
  
“ _ I’ll  take good  care of her, _ ” Fluorite reassured the two with a wink.   
  
“We know you will.” Lars smiled, then looked to Ronaldo. “You ready to head out now?”   
  
The curly-haired boy exhaled. “I think so. You?”   
  
“Mhmmm.”   
  
“Alrighty then.” Ronaldo waved to the Off Colors. “See you guys in a bit!”   
  
“Good luck!” called Blue.   
  
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Yellow followed up with a snarky grin.   
  
“We’ll try not to,” Ronaldo sighed, teeth gritted as he thought about the possibility of running into the one person who Lars had admitted caused him so much pain.

On the walk towards his house, Lars made a quick stop to a deli he knew his parents had loved to frequent and bought some sandwiches to bring home to share with them. He also grabbed a few pastries from a Filipino bakery his father liked and had befriended the owners of (lots of discounts for stuff that was already cheap!).

“Do we really need to get this much food?” Ronaldo looked at the two large bags in Lars’ hands.

“Babe, with my heritage, it would be a crime that I don’t bring food.” The space captain winked, walking up onto his parents’ porch and tapped the door gently with his foot, stepping back as he waited for them to answer.

As soon as the door opened, Lars was nearly toppled over by Martha’s overeager bear hug and shrill cheer of delight to see her son after so many months.

“M-ma, you’re crushing me!”

“Oh honey, it’s so good to have you back home! Let me look at you!”

“Trust me, ma, I look the same as I did eight months ago,” Lars laughed awkwardly, brushing his hair out of his face.

“Well, not with such long hair!” Martha gasped, putting her hand in his unkempt pink curls. She then shouted for Dante to come to the door and say hi to their son.    
  
When he arrived, Martha happily wrapped Ronaldo in a hug as well. “Oh Ronnie, it’s been ages since I’ve seen you too! You look so different!”

“Probably like Lars. Y’know, the hair.” Ronaldo shrugged with a grin as he hugged the woman. “Did you get a haircut?”

“Oh, just to trim the ends.” She waved it off with a cheerful smile and looked to see what Lars was carrying. “What’s this? I smell fresh hopia!”

“I didn’t know if you ate or not, so I brought you guys some sandwiches and pastries.” Lars grinned. “We can eat them inside while we catch up on stuff!”

Dante quickly ushered them all in the house, and they sat at the table. The room soon filled with delighted chatter as Lars heard all about what his parents were up to and what he'd been missing out on earth. 

“And we moved our vow renewal to next summer, so make sure you are on Earth in time for that!” Martha informed her son as she put away the dishes. 

“We will! Promise. “ Lars winked, settling against Ronaldo on the couch. 

“So enough about us,” Dante chuckled as he sat on the easy chair adjacent to them. “How is it in space?”   
  
“Oh!” A nervous smile suddenly spread across Lars’ face, and he looked to Ronaldo for support. His partner nodded his head and winked, a silent notion that he was there for him. The captain sighed, steadying his breath. “About that...there’s something we need to tell you.”   
  
“Oh, really?” Martha’s eyes grew wide, and she grabbed Dante’s hand. “What is it, dear?”   
  
“Is everything alright?” His father’s voice faltered with concern.    
  
“Well, you see…” Lars took another deep breath, racking his brain for ways to go about this, “a few months ago, Ron and I found this gem.”   
  
“Oooh! A new member of the team?” His mother beamed. “That’s wonderful, Lars!”   
  
“Are we gonna meet her?” Dante asked.   
  
“Uh…yes. But there’s more.”   
  
“What do you mean?” Martha adjusted her glasses and leaned in, prompting her husband to do the same.   
  
Lars cleared his throat. “She’s...really small. I mean really, really small. And she can’t talk save for one word. Or walk on two legs yet. Well, I mean, she can, but she falls after a few seconds. We’re working on that. And...she’s an Emerald, but I already…know a gem by that name, so I started calling her...Emily.”   
  
“Awww! What a lovely name,” Martha sighed, holding a hand to her heart.   
  
Dante, however, was starting to see where this was going. He raised an eyebrow, urging his son to continue.   
  
“Yeah. Glad you think so.” He chuckled awkwardly before continuing what he had to say. “Anyway, Ronnie and I have been taking care of her together. We left her with Fluorite so we could explain everything to you guys before bringing her in, but I wanted you both to know that she’s kind of...she’s uh...y’know, like…”    
  
“Our daughter.” Lars looked to Ronaldo, blinking in surprise at his follow-up. “Emily’s our daughter.”

Lars swallowed whatever words he’d come up with and looked to his parents with a nervous, but optimistic nod. His fingers began to thread together in wait.

Dante blinked in surprise at the announcement, even if he’d been starting to understand where the conversation was going. It certainly hadn’t hit him that this meant he was a grandfather.

Martha’s mouth was open slightly in shock and a soft “Oh” escaped her lips. Sitting up, she took in a deep breath through the nose, then scolded him. “Laramie!!”

“Wh-what?!” Lars yelped, surprised to see her angry about this, of all people.

“I can’t believe you would do this!”

“M-ma, I just thought I could be responsible and care for-”

“You come to Earth with a grandbaby for me, and you don’t have her with you right now?! You know darn well I’d have loved to see her right away!”

Lars’ whole body relaxed in relief as he let out a soft chuckle. “S-Sorry. I just wanted to prepare you for the shock of-”

“I’ve been preparing for this since before you were born!” Martha crossed her arms, pouting with impatience that she had to wait more than a few seconds to meet her granddaughter. “Get her over here pronto! I want to pinch her chubby cheeks!”

“I’d actually advise against that,” Ronaldo coughed. “She bites.”

“So did Laramie,” Dante muttered to Martha, snickering, and he reached for his cup of tea that he’d left on the coffee table,.“So she’s just a baby, more or less?”

“Yeah.” Lars nodded, chewing a thumbnail as he was pecking at his phone to message his crew that it was okay to bring Emily to his house. “She’s only grown a little since I found her. She was uh…born super late.”   


“It’s kind of the gem equivalent of preemies.” Ronaldo shrugged.

“Aww,” Martha gushed. “Well, she and Lars have something in common then!”

Ronaldo grinned, nudging Lars with his elbow. “Awww, were you a preemie?”

“Like just at thirty weeks?” Lars shrugged.

“Twenty-eight weeks,” his mother corrected. “And goodness, was he tiny. He couldn’t even grip his father’s thumb!”

“Well granted, dad has god-sized hands-”

“I do not!” Dante snorted, getting up to head to the kitchen to grab the box of pastries Lars brought. “But it’s really nice to hear you’re going down the parenting road, son. I hadn’t really imagined this happening with your situation and all.”

“I know,” Lars sighed, picking at a hangnail. “I didn’t either. I kind of accepted after a while that I probably wasn’t going to ever have kids of my own, which...kind of sucked.” He leaned against Ronaldo. “But this is pretty nice! Emily’s a great kid-errr, gem. I can’t wait for you two to meet her.”

Ronaldo kissed the top of Lars’ head. “And I can’t wait to tell my dad and Peedee about this because they’re definitely going to freak out and-”

He was cut off by Dante’s surprised shout to see a giant hand snaking through the open kitchen window.

“ _ Excuse  me _ ,” Fluorite called from the backyard window that looked into the kitchen, “ _ but  Lars asked  me to come bring  the small one _ .”   
  
Dante caught his breath, relieved that it was just Fluorite. “Oh! Right! You’re one of Laramie’s friends. Heh...o-okay.”   
  
Fluorite laughed softly and bowed, revealing the tiny green gem on her back whose eyes lit up excitedly when she saw Lars.   
  
“Papa!” Emily squeaked, stretching her arms out.   
  
“There’s my girl!” Lars ran over to the window, allowing her to crawl off of Fluorite and into his arms. “Hey, Emily! Come meet your grandparents.”   
  
“Oh, now don’t put it like that,” Dante laughed. “You’re making me feel old.”   
  
“Oh my goodness!” Martha exclaimed upon seeing the tiny gem. “Let me get a look at you!”

Emily, suddenly seeing someone new rushing at her, tensed up and was squirming to hide in her father's armpit.

“Er...she might need a minute or two to get adjusted,” Lars spoke apologetically. “Emily, don't worry! That's your grandma and grandpa! I told you about them, remember?”

Giving an inquisitive squeak, Emily stretched her neck out to the two humans and gazed at them with curious eyes. After a moment, she gave a delighted smile and leapt into an ecstatic Martha's arms. The two grandparents almost seemed to completely forget their son and his boyfriend were in the room as they fawned over the little gem, pinching her cheeks and voicing their adoration at how darn cute she was.

“Well,” Lars said, nudging Ronaldo, “they're gonna be spoiling her rotten for hours. Want to go relax in my room?”   
  
“Oh yeah.”    
  
Lars smirked at him, before turning to his parents. “Ronnie and I are gonna go take care of a few things upstairs while you guys get acquainted! Let me know if you need anything!”   
  
“Alright!” Martha called after him, turning back to Emily and giving her a kiss on the forehead.   
  
Lars and Ronaldo headed up the staircase and into the attic that also functioned as Lars’ room. He had to admit, it felt really nice to be back in Beach City after so long and to see his parents, his house and all his stuff. It almost made him forget about…   
  
The sudden sound a of loud, obnoxious k-pop tune paused Lars’ thoughts. He turned to Ronaldo, who had taken a seat on his bed.   
  
“Where the hell is that coming from?”   
  
His partner had a sly grin on his face.   
  
“What do you...oh, goddamnit, Ron! I told you not to fuck with my phone.” The other boy held in his laughter as Lars fished his vibrating cellphone out of his pocket. “Let’s see who the hell is calling meee…”   
  
His voice trailed off, and he stared down at his phone with a troubled expression. Ronaldo, who had previously been about to explode with concealed laughter, became confused at the other’s change in expression.   
  
“What’s the matter? Did Emerald get your cell number too?”   
  
“It’s…” Lars coughed and swallowed hard before he spoke. “It’s Sadie.”   
  
“Ohhhhh…” The first mate chewed at his lip and looked to the side for a second before holding his hand out. “Give it to me. I’ve got this.”   
  
“Are you sure?”   
  
“Yeah!”    
  
Lars reluctantly handed his phone over to Ronaldo, who didn’t even bother to look at the screen before declining the call. “There we go! Problem solved. Wanna play video games?”   
  
“Ronaldo, what the fuck!?” The captain yanked his phone from Ronaldo’s hand, and immediately called Sadie back, much to the other’s obvious displeasure. The first mate was even more displeased when Lars shooed him away so he wasn’t interfering with the call. 

Slouching grumpily on the easy chair in the corner of the room where he couldn’t hear Lars’ quiet voice, Ronaldo watched as Lars awkwardly laughed and made small talk that seemed nervous at first, but eventually relaxed into something more casual. To Ronaldo’s surprise, Lars seemed actually excited at one point, but he was unable to figure out any context before his partner chirped a cheerful goodbye and hung up. He was grinning as he sauntered over to curl up on Ronaldo’s lap.

“That went well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Lars smiled, sounding placid. “She wasn’t mad about me being gone so long or anything.”

“Well, I don’t know why she should be, but okay.”

“She was super excited to hear about Emily!” Lars glanced up at Ronaldo, almost proud of this achievement.

“Aww, nice.” Ronaldo couldn’t help but feel a little happy that one source of Lars’ anxiety was gone.

“Yeah! She can’t wait to meet her later today.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh, I invited her over for a movie. Y’know, like old times.”   
  
Ronaldo felt his heart sink. “B-But…”   
  
“But what?”   
  
“She...you…” The first mate sighed. He really didn’t know if he should get into this again. If Lars was comfortable with Sadie coming over, even after all the horrible things she’d done to him, perhaps he should try to understand his outlook. “Nothing. It’s fine.”   
  
“Glad you think so!” Lars lay down on the bed, stretching with a loud yawn. “Man, I didn’t get much sleep on that island.”   
  
“Me neither,” Ronaldo laughed nervously, laying down as well and rolling over to where him and Lars were facing one another. “I could go for a few hours of rest before Sadie comes over.”   
  
“Mmmmm, yeah.” The captain snuggled up to his first mate until their chests were touching and brought a hand up to play with his hair.    
  
Ronaldo couldn’t help but forget his anger for a moment and blush. “Should we set an alarm?”   
  
“Nah.” Lars snickered, twirling one of Ronaldo’s rose-colored curls around his finger. “If we’re not awake by the time she comes over, she’ll call, and that’ll wake us up.”   
  
“Fair enough.”

Lars kissed Ronaldo right on the nose. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” he mumbled, quickly nodding off to sleep.

Ronaldo, left alone with his thoughts, had more on his mind than bedbugs. He wasn’t looking forward to what was going to happen in a few hours, and it wouldn’t go away with a nap no matter how tired he was.   
  


_I don't want to stand between you and love_   
_Honey, I just want you to feel fine_


	28. Room's On Fire

_Well maybe I'm just thinking that the rooms are all on fire  
Everytime that you walk in the room _

When Lars’ phone chimed three hours later, he was roused from a really pleasant, dreamless sleep. He rolled over to grab it, seeing Sadie’s message that she was on her way and would be there in a couple minutes. Grinning, he sat up and saw that Ronaldo was still dozing, mouth open with a puddle of drool having formed from the corner.   
  
Leaning down, he gave his boyfriend a gentle kiss and nuzzle on the cheek. “Hey baby.”

Ronaldo burst awake with an anxious jolt, having been in an incredibly light sleep. “Wh-what’s going on?”

“Sadie’s gonna be here in a few minutes. Look alive.”

“That’s a pun, right?”

“You bet,” Lars chirped, kissing his lips quickly before getting up. “Wait up here if you want, okay? I’m gonna go down so I can answer the door when she gets here.”

When Lars arrived downstairs, he noticed that his were parents were busy as ever fawning over Emily. Now, they were in the stage of showing her the dreaded photo albums and scrapbooks. They had her situated on the sofa with them, happily splayed on her belly atop a pillow while she nibbled some fresh goodies they’d probably cooked up while her fathers napped.

“And here was your daddy when he was just a little baby like you! See how tiny his hands were?”

Emily chirped. “Papa?” she whispered in awe, placing her own tiny hand on the photo.

Oh well. It wasn’t like she was going to remember any of this years later. He smiled as he watched from the staircase, but his attention was quickly averted by the knock of the door. His stomach began to tighten for a moment, but he remembered the conversation they had on the phone and relaxed, walking toward the door.  
  
Lars made his way down the staircase and inhaled a deep breath. As he exhaled, he took the doorknob in his hand and slowly turned it to reveal Sadie, standing there and looking up at him with eager eyes and a nervous grin. She was wearing what appeared to be one of her band’s t-shirts and held three movies in her hands.   
  
“Hey,” he greeted her, drumming his thumbs against the doorframe. “Long time no see, huh?”   
  
“Lars!” she exclaimed, rushing toward him like she was about to hug him but stopping due to the boxes of VHS tapes in her hands. “Okay, we might have to do that later.”   
  
“Fine with me.” Lars laughed, motioning for her to follow him inside. “Ron’s already upstairs. C’mon!”   
  
As he led her towards the stairs, she gasped as she saw Emily on the couch. “Oh wow, is that your baby?”

“Yep, that’s her. My baby with claws and teeth,” Lars joked, walking over to scoop her up. He gave a silent nod of thanks to his parents as they let him take over.

“Papa!” Emily immediately melded into his arms, happy to snuggle.

Sadie put the movies down momentarily, letting out an excitable noise. “Lars, oh my gosh! She’s so cute!”

“Emily, meet Sadie,” Lars cooed, holding the little gem up so she could see this new person. Emily responded with a sharp chirp of greeting and continued nuzzling her face right into her papa’s arm.

“Awww, hey there! You’re a tiny one, aren’t ya? I guess that gives us something in common!” Sadie giggled, patting the little gem on the head. Emily shook it, letting her fluffy hair go wild and snuggled back into Lars’ arms, content to hear his heartbeat.

“Looks like she’s starting to tire out,” Lars noted. “My parents have been spoiling her all afternoon.”

“And we’ll continue to do so!” Dante called from the couch.

“I’ll let her nap upstairs. If she doesn’t sleep enough, she gets cranky.”

Sadie smiled as she saw how doting Lars was on the little gem and grabbed the movies. “Wow. This is really cool to see.”

“A non-cranky baby?”

“No. You doing all this...y’know, without anyone asking.” Sadie gave an awkward chuckle. “I’d never have thought it. I mean, you became a pirate so you could get home and stuff, and that’s really cool, but this is just you wanting to be a dad, and nobody asked you to.”

It was a compliment, Lars knew it, and he felt it was such, but something about it didn’t feel right. His smile only faltered a little.

“Yeah.” Lars looked at Emily, smiling bright again as he saw her drift off to sleep nice and comfortably. “Guess I’ve always really wanted to be a dad.”

“Did you really, though?” Sadie teased. “Anyway, these movies aren’t gonna watch themselves!” She grinned, skipping up the first few steps.

“Right, right,” Lars said tiredly as he followed her upstairs, the falter in his smile returning again as she turned her back.  
  
He led her to the attic, feet shuffling nervous the whole time as he thought about what she said. The captain wondered why it even bothered him so much. Sighing, he opened the door and held it for her, gesturing for her to enter his room.   
  
“Oh! Thanks.” She kept smiling as she walked into the space, Lars following and shutting the door after them.   
  
Ronaldo was still on Lars’ bed, lying on his stomach. He was startled and looked up when he heard the door open and instantly locked eyes with Sadie. His heart began to thud so hard that he fretted breaking a rib. The first mate swallowed a lump of anger in his throat, deciding to at least try to be hospitable. For now.   
  
“Hey, Ronaldo!” She greeted him with a slight wave. “What’s up?”   
  
“Nothing.” Ronaldo tried to fake a laugh, but it was pretty obvious it was forced.   
  
“Oh...okay, then!” He knew she detected that something was off, but frankly, he didn’t really care. This was going to be a whole lot of trying to make it through the night without tearing into her.   
  
Ronaldo didn’t _want_ to be mad at Sadie. It was clear that Lars no longer was, and the two of them wanted to have a good time with him. But every time he felt like he was getting past what his partner said about her, he remembered how hard Lars cried when he told him what she did to him so many years ago. The way the most important person in the world to him crumpled down on the ground in a helpless heap of sobs, so upset by the situation that he thought his trusted first mate would betray him like that too. _And that he would deserve it if he did..._   
  
“You okay, babe?”   
  
Lars’ voice startled Ronaldo from his thoughts, and he felt his fitsts unclench slowly. “Oh. Yeah, I’m good.” He flashed a rather forced smile.   
  
“We were just deciding which one of these we wanted to watch first,” Sadie’s voice piped up from Lars’ beanbag, where she was sitting with the three VHS tapes sprawled out in front of her. “I brought three Lars said he hasn’t seen yet. Are you familiar with any of them?”

Ronaldo looked to Lars, happily cradling Emily from his seat, and then at the tapes. After glancing over the titles, he gasped. “Screamnagers 4!? That one’s a classic! Lars, how have you not seen this?”  
  
He shrugged. “I’m in space all the time?”

“Oh, please. Enough of your excuses,” Sadie laughed, not noticing how Ronaldo seemed to tense up at the tone she’d just used with his partner. “You wanna watch this one?”

“Well, I think Ronnie might dump me if I don’t, so yeah,” he obviously joked.  
  
“I would never do that, Lars!” Ronaldo suddenly whimpered in horror, bringing a hand up to his mouth.   
  
The captain frowned, feeling a bit bad for his comment. “Awww, c’mon man. I was just joking.”   
  
“Oh.” The first mate faked a grin but still looked unsettled. “Right.”   
  
Lars turned back to Sadie. “Does it have a lot of blood?”

“Yeah? Why? You scared of it or something?” Sadie smirked.

“Oh no, I flippin’ love blood!” Lars cackled with a devious smile. “This’ll be perfect.”

“Are you sure you want your baby in here?” Sadie suddenly looked concerned. “It’s….not exactly G-rated. There’s a lot of screaming.”

“Oh, she’ll be fine,” Lars said, waving the comment off. “It’s probably nothing compared to some of the stuff she’s seen in real life. Plus, she can sleep through a space battle.”

“Okaaaay, but if she starts crying, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.” Sadie rolled her eyes as she popped the tape in.

Lars snickered and kept Emily tucked in his arm as he rest back, unaware that Ronaldo’s blood was already starting to boil on a low simmer. But once the movie started playing, it numbed back to normal, distracted by the delightful nostalgia that was a classic horror flick.

Like every old film Lars was introduced to, he was quick to make light cracks about the outdated effects and cheesy acting. Ronaldo certainly didn’t mind it, and Sadie more or less ignored it.

“You know,” Sadie began towards the middle of the film, “I noticed a plot inconsistency. The Prom Scream events take place in May, but they find the courts’ bodies in the snow.”

“Well, for context, the original book that the movies were based on takes place in Canada,” Ronaldo pointed out with a matter of fact tone. “So it makes sense for snow to be around in May.”

“Yeah, but there are palm trees, and it’s filmed in Palm City on the west coast. You’d at least think they’d put a little effort in to get the location a little more consistent.” Sadie shrugged.

“Well,” Ronaldo huffed, “it doesn’t detract from the plot, really. It’s probably just a matter of the budget not allowing them to fly out to Canada. His response was a little sharper, and he felt his face grow hot.

“That’s probably it with these effects!” Lars snickered. “I mean, you could dip fries in that fake ketchup blood! It’s so-”

“We get it, Lars,” Sadie interrupted him, sounding a little annoyed. “You know you don’t have to point out how bad the effects are every time.”

Lars didn’t have time to respond with any playful banter before Ronaldo sharply shot back at Sadie. “So how come you can criticize the movie but he can’t?”

She laughed a bit nervously. “Well, jeez, it’s just kind of annoying. I mean, he does it for every movie-”

“I don’t think its annoying at all!” Ronaldo folded his arms, staring at her with a glare. “I respect Lars’ opinion just as much as anyone else’s!”

“Uh,” Lars laughed awkwardly, wanting to ease the growing tension in the room, “it’s really not that big of a-”

“Well, I respect his opinion. I just don’t want him interrupting the movie every ten minutes to-”

“Come on! You’ve watched this movie fifty times.” Ronaldo rolled his eyes. “It won’t kill you to let Lars have a say in anything we do _for once_.”

“Excuse me?”

“Uh, guys...the movie?”  
  
“You heard me,” Ronaldo continued, seeming to ignore Lars’ remark. “It won’t kill you to actually treat Lars like a person and not just some animal that’s supposed to follow you around and do whatever you say.”   
  
Sadie flipped her head around to stare at Ronaldo, eyes coated over with a confused shock. “Wh-what do you mean by that?”   
  
Lars gulped, feeling Emily start to stir in his lap. “Uh, Ron-”   
  
“For crying out loud!” The first mate finally exploded, whipping his body around to face Sadie. “You know damn well what I’m talking about!”   
  
“No, I don’t!”   
  
“R-Ronaldo? I can’t see the TV…”   
  
“You don’t, huh?” Ronaldo groaned. “Are you serious? You don’t even remember what you did to him!? It mattered that little to you!?”   
  
Sadie was becoming openly distressed. “Ronaldo, I-I have no idea-”   
  
“I’m talking about the fucking island, Sadie!” He was biting into his lip, trying to stop himself from crying out of anger. “I know what you did to him. I know you trapped him on an island for over a week just so you could have him to yourself and make him your pet project. You thought he was dumb enough that you could fix whatever imperfections you thought he had like it only took a snap of your crummy little fingers.”   
  
Upon hearing what Ronaldo was accusing her of, Sadie dropped the remote she’d been holding to the floor and froze. Her eyes were wide, as if she was looking into the headlights of a truck about to hit her. The first mate’s yelling had caused Emily to wake, and she was looking at her father with a similar expression. Lars, who was already extremely anxious from his friends fighting in front of him and on his behalf, picked up on this.   
  
“Umm...g-guys? Emily’s-”   
  
“So what do you have to say for yourself?” Ronaldo continued, ignoring Lars again. “Apparently every time he tries to talk about this, you brush him off like he shouldn’t even be upset that you kidnapped him, and I’m not gonna let you pull that shit this time. Speak.”   
  
After looking around for a few more seconds, terrified as ever, Sadie seemed to come back down to Earth. “R-Ronaldo, how did you even find out about that?”   
  
“Oh! I almost forgot about that little doozy of a story!” He laughed, focusing his icy stare on Sadie again and narrowing his eyes. “You wanna know why he told me? Because we crashed one of our ships on an island the other day, and after acting like he was face-to-face with a spirit for a few minutes, he had a full-on breakdown because he was so traumatized by what you did to him that he thought I did the same fucking thing!”   
  
Sadie bit into her lip, clearly fighting back tears as she turned to Lars. “L-Lars...did that really happen?”   
  
“Oh, you bet it did!” Ronaldo spat. “I’ve literally never seen him so upset in my life.”   
  
“L-Lars?” Sadie tried to get him to speak. “Is this true? Why didn’t you tell me?”   
  
A small noise was starting to come from Emily. Lars was getting more nervous than ever, feeling like a kettle about to scream. “U-Uh…”   
  
“Stop lying!” Ronaldo cut his partner off once again. “He told me that he’s tried to talk to you about it before, and you just pretend it never happened.”   
  
Sadie looked more petrified at every word Ronaldo said. “I...I swear, I didn’t know he still thought about it…”   
  
“Are you kidding me!? You trapped him on an island to change his entire personality, and you think he can just forget it enough to be all buddy buddy with you like nothing happened? Are you really that clueless, or do you just not care about his well-being at all? Because, at this rate, it could be either o-”   
  
“Well, if he can suddenly be okay with dating someone who tried to sacrifice him, then I don’t see why not!” Sadie suddenly snapped, finding her nerve.   
  
“ _Oh-ho_ don’t even go there. I only did that to save your ass when you got sucked into the floor, and you’re fucking welcome for that I bet-”

“You were mad at him for tearing up a stupid photo when you were five!”

“First of all, we were like nine at the least. And second of all, it was a very impressionable time of my life! And that photo was the first paranormal discovery we truly ever made!”

“It was just Lars getting smacked by a board! What’s the big deal with that?!”

“Of course you wouldn’t care considering you smack him around all the time and act like such a bitch about-”

“STOP IT!!!” Lars shouted, turning the TV off.

Both Ronaldo and Sadie were stunned into silence to see him standing upright and glaring at them as Emily wailed loudly in his arms.

“You’re freaking my kid out! What’s wrong with you two?! I just wanted to have fun and watch a movie, and you’re trying to turn it into some stupid fight about me that I didn’t even ask for!” He then focused his glare on his boyfriend.“And Ronaldo, don’t you _dare_ call Sadie that. I don’t care what went down, but don’t you ever call her that. Especially not in front of your daughter.”

Sadie was about to open her mouth to comment but was cut off when Lars pointed sharply at her. “And I don’t care how you feel about me being a dad or dating Ronaldo or anything else in my life. So zip it.”

He stormed towards the attic door. “I have to go calm down my daughter.”

“Wait, let me help-” Ronaldo piped up, voice meek.

“Lars-” Sadie cut in.

“No,” he snapped at them both, heading down the attic stairs. “I only need to deal with _one_ baby right now.”   
  
Once he’d left, Ronaldo and Sadie sat together in complete silence for a while. The first mate took a seat on Lars’ bed again, looking down at his feet. He felt a heaviness in his heart, like he was choking on the lump that was slowly forming his throat while he processed everything that just happened.   
  
“I’m sorry.” Sadie’s voice suddenly piped up among the silence, causing Ronaldo to look up at her. She was looking away, her face hidden beneath her light blonde hair. “I shouldn’t have done that.”   
  
Ronaldo exhaled slowly, glancing back down to the floor of his partner’s bedroom. “No, it’s okay. I was provoking you, and you had a right to respond with-”   
  
“No! I mean the whole island thing!” She was looking at him now, small tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes. “Ugh, it was so long ago. I don’t even know what I was thinking. I can’t remember. But I can remember how awful it made me feel when I came home and realized what I did to Lars…I-I didn’t mean to brush him off whenever he talked about it! I just never knew what to say...” She grabbed the end of her shirt tightly and brought a hand up to wipe her eyes. “I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from doing it.”   
  
The first mate felt his heart ache when he recalled himself saying something similar not too long ago. “Well...why don’t you tell him that?”   
  
Sadie sighed, voice shaking. “I don’t know how! What the hell do I even say? Sorry for trapping you on an island and allegedly traumatizing you!?”   
  
“Yeah? I guess…I don’t know. I’m not good at these things.” Ronaldo attempted to crack a smile. “But I think if you just said sorry, it’d go a long way.”   
  
A small laugh came from Sadie. “You think so?”   
  
“Yeah. I do.”

It was quiet for several long moments before Ronaldo coughed awkwardly and spoke up again. “Um...I’m sorry too, for calling you a bi-uh...that word. It was uncalled for.”

“It’s okay,” Sadie sighed. “I kind of deserved that-”

“No. You didn’t.” Ronaldo shook his head. “And I shouldn’t have taken things this far, especially without Lars’ consent.”

“Well...you were kind of right about one thing,” Sadie sighed. “I guess I really haven’t been the nicest to Lars.”

“...Me neither.” Ronaldo looked at his lap, sighing. “I...we-...should probably go talk to him…”

“Let’s give him a bit. He’s probably still in a bad mood and trying to calm the baby down.”

“Yeah.” Ronaldo rubbed his forehead, laughing suddenly. “He’s got the whole baby thing down to a T though. He can get her to sleep in record time. I don’t know what it is, but he’s really good at handling fussy children. And everything else that comes with taking care of kids.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I swear, the minute he saw Emily, he fell head over heels in love. I’ve never seen someone that happy to be a dad. You think baking and intergalactic piracy are his true loves? Nope. It’s definitely Emily,” Ronaldo snickered.

“I guess I never really thought Lars was that excited to ever be a parent,” Sadie admitted. “But y’know...there’s a lot of stuff about him I don’t know. And definitely not as much as you.”

“Well, I didn’t know he wanted to be a dad either until he brought it up with me, but...I wonder if he was afraid to admit it back on Earth.” Another hearty chuckle left Ronaldo’s throat. “Did you know he did babysitting on weekends?”

“Really?”

“Yeah! He didn’t even tell me until he was teaching me how to take care of Emily. It sure explains a lot though.”

“Wow…” Sadie smiled, a little melancholy.

“Yeah.”   
  
There were another few seconds of silence before Ronaldo spoke again. “We can finish the movie now if you want.”

“We...might have to rewind it about twenty minutes back,” Sadie admitted. “I forgot to pause it when we were fighting.”

“Yeaaah, we should...probably do that.”

* * *

Lars had managed to comfort Emily so she was docile again but did concede to her refusal to nap again, even with his tape player to lull her off. He resorted to reading to her in order to pass the time. He was feeling much calmer himself as he was in his parents’ soft familiar easy chair, keeping her placed on his lap with the book right in front of her so she could see the pictures. Her eyes were fixated on the current page as he read aloud.

“ _‘I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them-_ ’ “

Lars paused as Emily suddenly yanked the page right out of the book with a messy tear along the edge and stuffed it into her mouth.

“...Emily, I think you’re misinterpreting the story,” he murmured, sighing as he read the next page without stopping.

He was only interrupted again a few minutes later by Sadie awkwardly knocking on the wall to get his attention. “Hey…”

Lars glared at her with an unreadable expression before sighing and looking away. “...Hey. Where’s Ronaldo?”

“Upstairs,” she mumbled, shuffling her foot. They’d decided to talk to Lars one-on-one so they wouldn’t overwhelm or upset him any further.  
  
“Ohhh, okay.” Lars frowned, taking Emily in his arms and starting to idly pat her fluffy hair. “I’m sorry about all that. I understand if you’re mad at me.”   
  
“Lars, why would I be mad at you?” Sadie spoke softly, moving in to sit next to her friend. “You had every right to blow up at me and Ronaldo. We were being really immature.”   
  
The captain’s eyes grew wide with surprise, and he looked to her again. “Oh...you really think so?”   
  
“Of course, I do.” She exhaled deeply. “Look, Lars...I had no idea that whole island thing was still bothering you.”   
  
“You didn’t?” he asked. “You really didn’t think that still bothered me?”   
  
She winced at the venomous tone in his voice. “No. But I’m sorry. That was a really awful thing to do. I’ve always been sorry about it. I just didn’t know how to tell you, and I still don’t, but if you hate me, I understand. I’ve...been kind of a jerk to you, and tonight I-”   
  
“Thank you, Sadie.”   
  
She stopped talking and turned to Lars, confused. “Huh? For what?”   
  
“Apologizing. It means a lot.”   
  
“Oh…” A smile crept on her face. “Yeah? I’m glad.”   
  
There was another moment of silence as the two looked ahead, Sadie nervously tapping her fingers together and Lars still petting Emily’s hair.   
  
“Hey, Sadie?” Lars said suddenly.   
  
“Huh?”   
  
“You’re not...mad that I’m dating Ronaldo, are you?” Lars chewed at his lip while he spoke. “Because I guess maybe I should’ve given you more of a warning before I got with someone else, and you deserve to know if-”   
  
“No! Of course I’m not mad at you for dating Ronaldo.” Sadie looked shocked at his suggestion. “We called things off years ago. I knew nothing was gonna happen between us, and I accepted that. You’re free to be with whoever you want, and I shouldn’t have a say in that. Plus, Ronaldo really loves you, Lars.”   
  
A thick layer of blush began to coat Lars’ face. “Awww, shucks. Y-You think so?”   
  
“Um, yeah! He was dead set on fighting one of his best friends just because they hurt you. And even if that didn’t happen, I can tell by the way he talks about you like you’re the best thing that ever happened to him.”

Absently sinking his fingers into Emily’s hair to fluff it up again, Lars smiled softly. “...Wow. That’s kind of a nice thought.”

“Uh, of course it is!” Sadie nudged him with her elbow. “You’ve got a hunky potato man at your beck and call for potentially an eternity! That’s awesome as balls!”

“And that hunky potato man gets a pink toothpick,” Lars snickered.

“Yep,” Sadie laughed, kicking back on the couch.

Lars set Emily down on his lap again. “So what’s new in your world? Any non-pink zombie people you’ve been seeing?”

“Well,” Sadie said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, “Jenny and I went on a date last weekend to Creep-Con.”

“Oh my god, you’re dating Jenny?! That’s so rad!”

“It was just one date-”

“And when’s the next one?” Lars wiggled his eyebrows with a grin.

“...Next tuesday.”

Lars cackled as he patted Sadie’s back hard, almost shoving her off the couch. “Way to go, Sades! You’ve caught yourself a winner!”

“I mean, technically, she asked me out, but-”

“She has good taste then!” Lars gave a cheeky smile.   
  
He felt a tug on his pant leg, seeing Emily sleepily trying to get comfortable. The captain scooped her up. “Awww. Tired again, Em?”

“So…” Sadie spoke up again, “you were a babysitter back when you were working at the Big Donut, huh?”

“You bet your tits I was,” Lars snickered, standing up. “And it was good for something!” Stretching his legs, he cradled his daughter. “I’m gonna go put her down for a nap upstairs. I’ll be back in a-”

As soon as Lars put his feet on the first step, he was nearly knocked over by Ronaldo thundering down the stairs at full speed. “Lars! I know you’re probably still mad at me, but I’m really sorry I caused all this and called Sadie a mean word, and I don’t know what I was thinking, and I-”

“Ronnie.” Lars held a finger over Ronaldo’s lips. “Emily’s gotta nap. And it’s okay. I know you wanted to help me, but I can fight my own battles. I am the captain here, after all.” He winked. “I’ll always let you know when I need your backup.”

He then wordlessly walked past Ronaldo, up the stairs and out of sight. The first mate watched his partner disappear, and when he was no longer in site, walked over to sit where he’d once been sitting next to Sadie.   
  
“So...how’d it go?”   
  
“Good, actually.” Sadie smiled, brushing some hair out of her face. “I apologized and all.”   
  
“Way to go!” Ronaldo said cheerfully, patting Sadie on the back rather roughly. “I’m glad you were able to talk things out with him.”   
  
“Heh. Yeah, me too.”   
  
After a moment, Ronaldo craned his neck toward the doorway as if to make sure nobody was looking. When he was certain, a smirk spread across his face, and he glanced at Sadie.   
  
“Pssst, Sadie.”   
  
“Huh?”   
  
“Wanna see a little...surprise I’ve got for Lars?” He raised his eyebrows.   
  
Sadie giggled, scooting in closer. “Sure!”   
  
“Okay. You gotta promise not to tell him though, got it?”   
  
“My lips are sealed!” She made a motion to mimic zipping up her mouth.   
  
“Alright…”   
  
Ronaldo fished his hand into the pocket of his pants and idly stuck his tongue out while searching around for something in there. Finally, he pulled the object in question out. Sadie instantly figured out what it was before he even opened the small box containing it.   
  
Her heart began to accelerate in excitement. “Oh my gosh, Ronaldo! I-Is that…?”   
  
“Oh yeah.”   
  
In Ronaldo’s palm, glistening in the moonlight that snuck through the nearest window, was a sparkling silver ring.

_Well there is magic all around you, if I do say so myself  
I have known this much longer than I've known you _


	29. Can't Help Falling in Love

_Like a river flows_

_Surely to the sea_

_Darling, so it goes_

_Some things are meant to be_

  
“Annnd that should be it!” Lars smiled, slamming the hatches on the suitcase at the edge of his bed. “I think I packed enough to cover for what we lost when the ship blew up. How about you?”   
  
Ronaldo was sitting at the edge of his partner’s bed, staring at the ground. When Lars spoke, he seemed startled by his voice. “Oh! Uhhhh...yeah. I packed most of my stuff earlier.”   
  
The captain noticed pretty quickly that something was eating away at his first mate’s mind and frowned. He made his way over to where he was sitting and plopped down next to him, giving him a small kiss on the cheek.   
  
“Nervous about the ride back to space or something?” he asked, allowing his hand to brush over the other’s.   
  
Ronaldo looked choked up for a second, as if he didn’t know how to reply. “Errrr...no, not really. It’s just…” He glanced to the side. “Is Emily asleep for the night?”   
  
“I hope so,” Lars laughed and grinned. Their daughter had been sleeping in the guest room, which was close enough to the attic for her dads to hear her cry if she needed attention. “I think Funland tired her out.” His smile fell. “Oh yeah. Remind me to call Mr. Smiley tomorrow about how much the damage to the carousel is gonna be.”   
  
“Will do.” Ronaldo looked out the window, the same forlorn expression still present on his face. “Hey, Lars?”   
  
“Mhmmm?”   
  
“Do you think we could go to the hill for a bit? Just to look at the stars from Earth and see the lighthouse before we have to go back to space? I always find myself missing that.”   
  
“I don’t see why not.” Lars gave him a gentle pat on the back. “We’d just better be quiet in case Topaz is sleeping.”   
  
“That works.” The first mate attempted a smile, but something still seemed weird. Lars figured he was feeling a little sad about having to leave Beach City. Sometimes homesickness still snuck up on both of them, no matter how long it had been. Hopefully, seeing the stars and the lighthouse would help with that.

Since it was starting to get dark, Lars opted to drive them to the hill in his parents’ car, a beat-up blue stationwagon. It still had the familiar scent from its years of use, and Lars couldn’t help but feel a twinge of nostalgia as he remembered the days of driving it all over town with pride after getting his license. And much to his delight, the cassette player worked.

Once they parked the car at the top of the hill and climbed out to sit on the grass, Lars grinned as he stretched his legs. “Finally! I can get some grass stains on my jeans again!” He laughed and rolled around a bit, snickering as he spat some grass out of his mouth and brushed out his hair. “It’s like when we were kids back in the summer!”

“Oh, yeah,” Ronaldo breathed, snapping out of his deep thought. “I remember that.” He blushed as he sat next to Lars. “We’d catch lightning bugs and eat those freezer pops your dad got. Y’know, the ones with the really weird flavors?”

“They were Filipino ice candies. Don’t be racist,” Lars teased Ronaldo with a laugh and a nudge.

“Okay, but how is it racist to say avocado flavored ice cream is weird?” Ronaldo snorted, putting an arm around Lars and pulling him close. “You said they were weird too.”

“Well, of course I can say it,” Lars snickered, resting his head against the other’s shoulder and looking out at the stars. It really was starting to feel like a summer night...until a cold gust of wind blew through the grass, its chilly breath making Lars’ rosy skin prickle with goosebumps.

“Got chicken skin?” Ronaldo rubbed Lars’ arm gently.

“Ugh, yeah. It’s autumn,” the captain muttered. “How are you not cold right now?”

Ronaldo poked his own stomach. “See this? This is the wonderful insulation power of body fat.”

“Well, your skin is fuckin’ freezing.” Lars shuddered, poking Ronaldo’s arm and fitfully trying to keep comfortable. “Can we cuddle in the car? I know the grass is nice, but it’s _really_ cold.”

“Fine by me.”   
  
Ronaldo scooped Lars up in his arms, eyes twinkling when he heard him yelp and carried him to the car. Once they were inside, Lars turned on the heater and the cassette player, glad he’d kept a mixtape on hand. Nothing quite like the sound of a tape on its last leg crackling and popping as it struggled to serenade the couple while they gazed out at the beautiful night sky.   
  
As the two sat there, staring at the vast blanket of blacks, blues and purples they typically called their home, Lars allowed himself to relax in his boyfriend’s arms with a happy sigh. But there was something wrong. Ronaldo normally had his hands and lips all over him when they did this. Instead, he was just staring out into space like he saw a ghost.   
  
“Hello?” Lars tried to get his attention, softly elbowing his stomach. “Earth to Fryman? You’ve got a cute boy in your lap.”   
  
“A-Ah!” Ronaldo jumped, looking to Lars with an awkward expression. “Oh. Y-Yes! I do! Hahaha!” He gave his partner a gentle pat on the back, but nothing else about his posture changed.   
  
The captain frowned. This was certainly unusual behavior for his normally energetic first mate. Lars began to wonder if perhaps something more than the occasional pre-homesickness was bothering Ronaldo.   
  
“You okay there, Ronnie?”   
  
“Uh...yeah! Never been better!” Ronaldo obviously lied, giving him a thumbs up.   
  
Lars rolled his eyes. “Okay. What are you hiding?”   
  
“Nothing!”   
  
“Did you fucking put a potato in your pants as a “surprise” again? Because I don’t feel anything, but I swear if I unbuckle your belt and find another damn ass-”   
  
“No, no, no, no, no! It’s not that!” Ronaldo was quick to sit upward, nervous sweat running down his forehead now. “It’s just uhhhhh….I wanna….a-ask you….a thing….”   
  
Lars sat upward so he was facing the other. “Okay. Ask me then.”

“Ok so...to preface this,” Ronaldo gulped, “...really briefly, I think I should tell you how I feel about you…”

“Really?” Lars blushed.

The anxiety couldn't hold itself in any longer, and the instant Ronaldo opened his mouth, he shut it quickly and plastered his hands over it. “I'm gonna hurl,” he whimpered and bailed out of the car, violently puking onto the grass.

Lars watched in stunned silence for a few seconds before climbing out of the car and walking over with a bewildered face. “Is…..this how you feel about me?!”

“N-no!” Ronaldo coughed. “I just….got carsick!”

“The car was parked!”

“Ugh, okay, I fear-vomit! I was freaking out over something,” Ronaldo whined before he vomited again. “Ohhh god, I really regret those eggs.”

“Awww babe, c'mere,” Lars sighed, taking Ronaldo's hair in his hands to keep it up out of his face. “There we go. So...what are you freaking out over?”

As Ronaldo stared at the contents of his stomach on the grass, he groaned softly, realizing that he really was freaking out over nothing. Lars loved him all the same. He was holding his hair back while he blew chunks on a romantic date. If that wasn't love, he didn't know what was.

He fished into his pocket and gripped the little box.

“...Could you let go of my hair for a sec?”  
  
“You good?” Lars asked, concern present in his voice.   
  
“Think so.”   
  
Ronaldo made his way around the pool of vomit he’d left on the ground, wincing while at the disgusting sight. Once he’d done so, he took a deep breath, fist clutching the tiny box that would soon change their lives for the better or worse. Probably the better. Hopefully the better.   
  
“Lars,” Ronaldo began, running a hand through his curls, “I just wanted to say that you’re like...the best person I know. You’ve always been. And I…” He sucked in a deep breath, drumming his fingers against the box and trying to search for the right words. “I really...love you. And I want to spend the rest of my seemingly endless existence with you.”   
  
The captain’s expression softened. “Awww, Ronnie. That’s so sweet. I love you too, babe.” He leaned in to give Ronaldo a kiss but was stopped.   
  
“Wait!” Lars looked confused that he turned down the romantic gesture, especially after what he’d just said. “I mean, I wasn’t done! Just...uhhhh…”   
  
Swallowing everything that was making him nervous, as well as a bit more vomit, down, Ronaldo quickly fell down on his knee and took the box out almost dramatically. He was silent for a while, staring down at the floor below him before he shakily lifted his head to look at Lars, who was staring at him with shock present on his face.   
  
“Basically, what I wanted to say is….w-will you marry me, Lars?”

Lars stared down at Ronaldo in complete and utter shock, knocked speechless. Once he found voice, or rather ability, to do anything, he squeaked out a gasp and his eyes welled up with tears. A mixed sob and giggle came out as he grabbed Ronaldo by the shoulders and hauled him up to standing position just so he could knock him over again in a happy tackle hug. “ _Yes!_ Of course!”

“R-really?!”

“Of course, Ronnie!” Lars cried, tears running down his face while he laughed breathlessly. “We're stuck together forever so we might as well enjoy it!”   
  
He began plastering Ronaldo's face with delightful kisses. The first mate’s stomach immediately relaxed with relief as he kissed Lars with complete enthusiasm, only to be pushed back.

“Baby, I love you with all my heart and always will, but you taste like puke and egg right now,” Lars laughed through tears, still hugging Ronaldo tightly. “Wash your mouth, and we can kiss as much as we want.”

“Alright!” Ronaldo beamed, holding back happy tears as he slid the ring on Lars’ finger (the wrong finger but neither of them could care). It was still gorgeous.   
  
When the two of them hopped in the car, Lars glanced to Ronaldo before making any moves to leave. He stared at him for a while, a lovestruck smile spread out across his face. There were so many things he wanted to say to him now, but it felt like all the words in the world wouldn’t be enough to cover how much this curly-haired nerd meant to him.   
  
“Wanna go get some celebratory ice cream?” Ronaldo suggested, awkwardly rubbing his neck. “I was going to plan this better, I swear, but then we got trapped on an island, and all that stuff with Sadie went down, and then-”   
  
“Ronnie,” Lars cut him off, taking the other boy’s hands, “what you did was perfect. Even if you projectile vomited everywhere right before you proposed.”   
  
A smile found its way to Ronaldo’s lips, his anxiety melting away at the other’s comforting words. “I’m glad I was able to make it good then.”

The trip to get ice cream was entirely in silence, but none of it was uncomfortable or tense. Rather, it was the complete opposite, neither of them able to stop smiling and glancing at each other the whole drive.   
  
They’d picked a drive-in, not wanting to leave the car’s comforting warmth and have to turn off the cassette player. Besides, it was easier to cuddle in private this way. Even with the car parked, nothing really needed to be said. Lars settled himself against Ronaldo, sipping quietly on a milkshake as he looked at the stars again. He swore he could see the same moon and sky from the hill, and it was just as beautiful. Ronaldo had been so entranced at the blanket of stars and deep in his own thoughts that his hand-mouth coordination was compromised, resulting in soft serve on his nose. Lars happily kissed it off for him.

When they got home, it was really late. Much too late for either of Lars’ nosy parents to stand waiting for them to return. That was perfectly fine. They could tell them the news in the morning. And they could put the time spent awake to some other use. Before their return to Earth a week earlier, Lars had mentioned to Ronaldo discreetly that he was wary of intimate activities in his own bed in the attic. But he couldn’t care less about it now, especially not when Ronaldo was already pulling at his t-shirt and nibbling his ear.

Pleasantly tired out from lovemaking about an hour later, Ronaldo muttered a slight concern that Emily may have heard it from her spot in the guest room, but Lars dismissed it. “With how this attic is built over the house, it’s more likely my parents got the worst of the noise.”

“Oh. Poor them,” Ronaldo laughed.

“Besides, I think we were quiet enough,” Lars breathed, snuggling into Ronaldo’s arms. “And I think we’ve earned ourselves the right to sleep in a couple extra hours.”

“Mhm,” Ronaldo purred, reaching for Lars’ hand. The wrong one again. He reached again for the other and kissed the band of silver.

“How’d you afford this anyway?” Lars murmured.

“Bismuth ships us almost as much as she does Garnet,” Ronaldo shook his head, kissing the ring again petting Lars’ hair. “I don’t ever wanna leave this bed.”

“Me neither.” Lars smiled back tiredly and felt himself drifting off with a yawn, pleasantly cuddled in his boyfriend- no, his _fiancee’s_ arms.

  


_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

 


	30. Walking Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains animal death, so if that's something that upsets you, please read with caution!

_ Most everybody's got seed to sow. It ain't always easy for a weed to grow, oh no. _

Ronaldo woke late the next morning to the smoky fragrance of frying ham and eggs. He and Lars quickly dressed themselves after some sweet morning cuddles and headed down the stairs. They kept their banded hands within one another to hide the rings.

Martha tried not to look too surprised as she saw the two up and about and smiled politely. “Oh! Morning, boys! Just in time for breakfast!”

“Oh, heck yes!” Lars grinned, using his free hand to pluck a sizzling piece of ham straight out of the frying pan. He stuffed it into his mouth, regretting it a few seconds later and wincing as he tried to chew the scalding meat.

“B-Baby don’t burn your throat!” Ronaldo chided gently as they sat down at the breakfast table across from Dante, who was pretty focused on his morning paper like always.

Once everyone was seated and starting to eat, Lars took special care not to have his ring-clad hand visible but was struggling to not burst with joy.

“Well you seem certainly chipper today,” Dante said, picking up on his son’s giddy expression.

“Well...” Lars was more than eager to guide into the announcement, looking at Ronaldo with excitement. “Ronnie and I have some news-”

“Oh, we know.” Martha pat her boy’s knee. “We both heard you two last night and couldn’t sleep. I’m just hoping you used protection and-”

“Ma!” Lars blurted, starting to sputter. “That’s not it!” He cackled, finally holding his hand up. “We’re freakin’ engaged!”   
  
Martha instantly squealed in delight and moved her hands toward her mouth. “Ohhh, Lars! I can’t believe it!”   
  
“Oh my goodness,” Dante laughed, a warm smile on his face. “I didn’t think you-whoa!” He was caught off-guard by the feeling of Martha grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him gleefully.   
  
“Did you hear that, Dante!? Our baby boy is getting married!”   
  
“I-I heard it!”   
  
Lars glanced to Ronaldo with a snicker. “Heh. Mom, I think you’re gonna break dad’s ribs-OOF!”   
  
The captain was cut off by the feeling of arms squeezing tightly around his middle and swaying him from side to side.   
  
“Don’t think you’re exempt from the hugs, mister groom!” Martha cheered.

“A-aah! Okay, okay!” He laughed again as he awkwardly returned the hugs, letting her kiss his cheeks while also not trying to look embarrassed in front of Ronaldo.

“When's the wedding?” Dante asked, fixing his glasses on his nose.

“Oh, we haven't thought of that yet.” Ronaldo motioned with his hands awkwardly.

“Yeah,” Lars said, plopping back in his chair,.“We're in no rush to get that solved yet.”

“Well you should be!” Dante insisted. “Your Lola is nearly ninety-three! You'd like for her to be at your wedding wouldn't you? And your cousins and Tita Mari and Tito Berto would all have to fly in, and-”

“Dear, don't overload him,” Martha chided. “I'm sure we can get all fifty something of your family members over here...and all sixty something of mine….and maybe my Aunt Jo but only if it’s a Jewish wedding ceremony. Otherwise we'd never hear the end of it.”

Lars wheezed, looking the tiniest bit overwhelmed. “Please don't try to talk numbers yet. We still have a lot of stuff to think over while this is new.”

“Yeah!” Ronaldo piped up. “Besides, I've got family who’d love to come too! My gramma has been driving my dad crazy about-”

“Okay, okay, we get it!” Lars cut him off, rubbing his forehead. 

“So...are you still planning to leave today?” Martha asked, folding her hands. “If you stayed another night, we could celebrate this and take you two out to dinner! After all, I'm sure you'd like to tell all your friends in town.”

“Ma, that's what social media is for.”

“Please? Just one more day?”

Lars looked to Ronaldo, who gave a shrug and smile back.

“Okay” Lars sighed, smiling in spite of himself. “One more day.”  

Once breakfast was done, Lars grabbed for a beat-up old pair of running shoes. “Hey, babe? I’m gonna go out for a run. I’ll be back soon. You can wake up Emily if you want.”

“Since when do you run?”

“I used to in high school after weekend breakfasts...unless it was raining...or cold...or I was tired.”

“He ran about twice a year,” Martha snickered to Ronaldo.   
  
“Oh, huh,” Ronaldo mused, laughing softly. “I wouldn’t have been able to tell by the chicken legs you had back then.”   
  
Lars rolled his eyes at him. “Oh, shut up.”   
  
“Well, have fun on your little stroll,” the first mate chuckled, leaning over to give his fiancee a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll look after the little one.”   
  
“Thanks, hon.”    
  
After returning the kiss to the side of Ronaldo’s cheek, Lars stepped out the door. He had his headphones around his neck, hooked up to the tape deck. As soon as he was out of earshot from the others, he pulled them up snugly around his ears, started the tape and began his jog.   
  
There was something different about running for life while a string of angry prison guard aliens chased after you and jogging down the street of your old neighborhood without a care in the world. Naturally, the latter was much less exhausting. Well, now it was. Back in the day, he would jog to the Big Donut when there was a chance he could be late for work. Now, it was just him, the sun and his music.    
  
Lars could feel the heat beating down on him, causing him to sweat a little as he moved his legs and passed by all the familiar settings of his childhood: the ocean, the hill where the lighthouse was, the shirt shop, the Big Donut in all its glory, a fluffy white cat standing feet away from him…   
  
_ Shit! _   
  
The captain came to an abrupt stop, almost toppling over as he tried his hardest to stop his flailing feet before he reached the cat. It didn’t appear to see him at all, looking up at him with wide icy blue eyes. Once he’d successfully managed to come to a stop, he reached in his pocket to pause the tape and positioned his headphones off his ears just in time for the cat to give a small curious mew.   
  
Now that he’d stopped, Lars allowed himself to get a look at the cat. It was solid white, a color so clear that you could see the pink skin underneath its ears. The animal was fluffy too, especially its tail. It also had a soft pink nose and beautiful long whiskers. Despite appearing as a stray, it was strangely well-kept.    
  
Ever since he’d grown up with his mother’s equally fluffy orange cat, Malvina, Lars always had a soft spot for them. He didn’t like picking favorites, especially when it came to animals, but if he absolutely had to, the creatures would probably at least tie with snakes for the number one spot. Plus, cats just seemed to like him.    
  
The strays that would come to the dumpsters outside the Big Donut always took a liking to him, but that might have been because he’d often take pity on the poor things and feed them hot dogs. Sadie always had to tell him to quit naming them in case he got attached, which he did. It was especially sad when they stopped showing up, but he liked to think that meant they’d found a forever home.   
  
Lars glanced down at the cat, a sympathetic grin spreading across his face. “Hey there, little kitty. You’ve got to start keeping a lookout. I almost ran right into you. You’re lucky I’m not a car.”   
  
The cat responded with another gentle chirp. Lars thought he could hear a slight rumble build up in its throat, and it walked toward him, rubbing its head against his leg. This only caused his smile to grow, and he let himself crouch down until he was level with the fluffy animal.   
  
“Do you like being pet?” he asked, tone soft so he wouldn’t scare the cat and held his hand out. It instantly responded by giving his fingers a reluctant sniff before practically shoving its face into them, an act of affection and sign that it would absolutely love to be rubbed. 

After a few minutes of gentle petting and cooing, Lars stood up and watched the cat continue to sniff at his shoes. Then it turned its attention to the grass, starting to curiously chew on a clover.

“A-Ah, hey! Don’t do that! You’ll barf it up,” Lars laughed, trying to get its attention. However, it paid him no mind at all. “Hey, kitty! No!”

When the cat didn’t even acknowledge him, Lars called to it again, snapping his fingers. Its ears didn’t even perk up.

“Kitty. Heeey. Mrrrow!” Lars chirped, trying to make familiar noises to get it to look up. Finally he clapped his hands, but there was still no response from the cat. Slowly dropping his hands back down to his sides, Lars grunted in realization.

“Oh. You’re deaf.”

When the cat finally looked up, licking its lips, it stared at Lars, not seeming to understand anything he’d said at all.

“I think I read somewhere about white cats with blue eyes being deaf and stuff,” Lars sighed, reaching down to scoop up the animal, which gave an inquisitive meow and sniffed Lars’ gauges. “Okay, you’re adorable, but I have to keep jogging,” he laughed, putting the cat back down in the grass. “Stay safe on the road, kitty. Especially if you can’t hear.”

Lars smiled as it seemed to wander off in its own direction, and he slipped his headphones back on as he returned to his jogging path. As he traveled, he began to wonder where the cat came from. He’d never seen it before in the city, even with how often he was away. He figured such a friendly animal would be seen more often. He didn’t even know what house it lived at, and who its owner was...if it even had an owner. It didn’t have a collar. Was it even supposed to be outside? Part of him was pretty certain a good pet owner wouldn’t let a deaf cat wander out alone, especially on streets where cars liked to speed without stopping. 

Lars decided he’d try to find the cat again, and take it to the shelter. But only after his jog and when he was on his way home. That way, if this cat really did have an owner, there was a window of time for them to find it.    
  
Jogging all the way to the beach, Lars found it exhilarating to run across the shoreline and let the sea air return some of the natural frizz to his curls. He got a little bit of water and sand in his running shoes, but he didn’t mind. 

He took a bit of time to walk around town a bit. There were new seaside shops that hadn’t been there before, and he wanted to check them out. He saw a store full of beach paraphernalia, mostly stuff for little kids and families, like plastic sand buckets and kites and cheap foam sandals. Even personalized sunhats for babies. Oh, he just  _ had _ to get one of those for Emily, especially since her name was available. And then, Lars realized he and Ronaldo had to show Emily the beach and all the fun of water and sand. It was still early in the day. He had plenty of time.

Lars had been so invested with the idea of buying beach toys for his daughter that he forgot two things: his plan to find the cat and that he didn’t have his wallet on him. Oh well, the second issue could be resolved once he got home.

Walking back, Lars took the same roads. He’d just remembered about the cat as he was starting to turn the corner onto his street, only to freeze in place at the sound of a car horn getting laid on a few times and a sharp thud. He turned the corner just in time to see a car speeding down the road way too fast and saw something tumble and settle into the middle of the road.

Curious, Lars walked ahead, trying to make out what the lump lying in the road was, but as soon as it seemed to make a recognizable shape, his blood ran cold. Walking faster, almost in a run, the captain felt his stomach tighten into a sickening knot as he soon found himself standing over the cat he’d more or less befriended an hour ago. The dust and asphalt of the road had gotten tangled in its fur, and its eyes stared ahead sightlessly as dark red was visible under its lovely head and paws.

It wasn’t breathing.

Lars’ face grew hot as he whirled around and screamed at the car, shaking with fury. “YOU FUCK!!! YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!! YOU DIDN’T FUCKING STOP!!! IT COULDN’T HEAR, AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN STOP!!!”

He kept screaming curses down the road, even though the car was long gone. His eyes grew wet as he stared down at the poor animal, and he cursed in fury at how stupid and cruel humans could really be. 

Rubbing furiously at his face, Lars wiped away the tears that were growing there and sobbed miserably. “I’m sorry, kitty. You didn’t even know...”

Wiping his eyes again, Lars’ hands were wet, unbeknownst to him as he took the poor animal’s corpse into his hands to get it out of the road. Just as he’d walked to the edge of his porch, he was caught off-guard by a sudden bright glow in his arms. He looked down to see the limp fluffy bundle in his arms completely enshrouded in light.

Right as the animal was starting to wake up, Ronaldo opened the door to carry Emily out to the front yard. His goofy smile dropped in confusion to see his fiancee in front of him, holding a very confused pink cat.

“Uhhh….” Lars began, looking equally as stunned. “I...can explain.”

* * *

“Soooo….” Lars drummed his fingers on the coffee table as he relayed the story back to Ronaldo, “I’m still in as much shock as you are. Literally a second before you opened the door, that cat was dead. I didn’t even mean to cry on it. I was just gonna bury it.”

“Well...” Ronaldo looked over Lars’ shoulder, seeing the newly revived animal sniffing everything curiously, its ears perking wildly in excitement at all the sounds it could now suddenly hear, “it looks like your animal-loving heart just multiplied Pussycat’s nine lives by one hundred.”

The cat soon was on Lars’ lap, sniffing his shirt and face and chirping as it heard the sounds coming out of the humans’ mouths. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “And I think it can hear me now. Hopefully it won’t get smacked by anymore cars. Izzndatright, kitty?”

The cat meowed loudly and leaped off Lars’ lap to continue exploring. They soon came across Emily as she was chewing on a kitchen sponge, invested in examining her.

“Now that begs the question: what’s gonna happen to the cat?” Ronaldo questioned. “Do you even know who the owner is?”

“I just asked my mom about that. She thinks it might’ve lived with one of our older neighbors. She had a lot of cats, but she died a little over a month ago. I guess when they were moving her stuff out, one of the cats got out. The rest got adopted by family.”

“Do you think they’d want a pink immortal cat that hacks up portals instead of hairballs?”

“Probably not,” Lars said. “And my mom and dad don’t want another cat. They still miss Malvina too much.”

“Didn’t that cat bite and claw literally anything within two feet of her?”

“Yeah, and she was the best,” Lars sighed in nostalgia. “And I don’t think they’d be equipped for any magic side effects, even if they wanted to keep it.”

“Maybe Steven would like a new cat! He does have a lion.” Ronaldo shrugged. “Or it could live with Topaz in the lighthouse. She loves cute things.”

“That’s true.” Lars nodded. “We’ll have to decide soon.”

Before Ronaldo could answer, Emily was eagerly babbling and giggling as the cat casually washed her face and hair with its tongue. She had her arms burrowed in the fluffy pink fur as deep as they would go.

“Papa!” she chirped, looking over to Lars.

“Awww, Em.” Lars smiled. “You like the kitty?”

“Kikie!” she babbled happily, repeating the word as she embraced the cat and bounced in place. The cat purred loud enough for her fathers to hear.

“Or…” Ronaldo glanced to Lars, “we could take it with us. I mean, it won’t need much food now, and it obviously likes people.”

Lars furrowed his brow in thought, trying to think of the extra steps that would need to be taken to accommodate the animal, especially before they boarded the ship the following day. It would take a lot of extra planning, enough to keep him busy up until tomorrow. But hearing Emily coo and babble to the cat was enough to make him smile.

“Well,” Lars sighed wistfully, looking to Ronaldo, then his daughter on the floor, “what’s a pirate crew without a ship cat?”

_ Walking man, walking man walks. _

_ Any other man stops and talks but the walking man walks. _

 


	31. Don't Go Breaking My Heart

_Don't go breaking my heart_   
_I couldn’t if I tried_   
_Oh honey, if I get restless_ _  
Baby you're not that kind_

“Are you sure we’re leaving tomorrow?” Ronaldo joked, watching as Lars laid everything he planned to take back with him on his bed in an orderly fashion.  
  
“Yes,” the captain replied, hardly looking up from folding a pair of his jeans, “I promise. I know we’ve had a hectic visit to say the least, but today’s gonna be the end of all that! We’re gonna pack and take it easy for the-hey!”   
  
Lars was cut off as the cat, who he’d decided to name Halo-Halo, after his favorite summertime dessert, jumped up onto his bed with a loud chirp and immediately began to knead his paws into the jeans he’d been folding. He tried his hardest to pull the pants out from underneath the cat but was unsuccessful, sighing in defeat as Halo-Halo finally curled up on top of them with a flick of his bushy tail.   
  
“I forgot they do that,” Lars sighed, inhaling deeply and running his hands through his hair. “That’s fine! Halo-Halo can take a nap on those jeans! I’ll just get to folding that shiiiiiiirt-wait, where the heck did it go?”   
  
“Huh?” Ronaldo looked over to his partner.   
  
“My shirt,” Lars repeated. “The one with the snake on it?”   
  
“You still have that thing?”   
  
“Uh, yeah! I mean, I had to get it replaced a few times, but I love it too much to let it go.” He scratched his head. “Now, where was the last place I put that shirt?”   
  
A sudden chorus of snickers caused Lars to flip his head around to find Ronaldo grinning from ear to ear and pointing to the right of him. “I think I found it.”   
  
The captain whipped around to see Emily with the shirt in her mouth and an innocent look on her face. His heart thudded against his chest when he saw how her teeth sunk into the delicate fabric. Laughing nervously, he walked over to his daughter with his hands extended.   
  
“Heh. Now, now, Emily. Can you give papa his shirt back?” She continued to look at him with the same round eyes and mischievous grin. “Uhhh...please?” He got the same response.   
  
“O-Okay...then I’ll just, uh…” Without thinking, Lars grabbed the shirt and began to gently pull it backwards in an attempt to rip it from her mouth. After a few unsuccessful tries, it turned into a game of tug-of-war that got more aggressive as it continued.   
  
“Give....me….my….shirt….back….honey….papa….needs….thaaaaat-ahhh!”   
  
Lars fell backward, his head gently thudding against the end of his bed. He groaned and clutched the back of it, shooting Ronaldo, who was laughing his ass off, an unimpressed glare. Then, he focused his eyes onto the strip of green fabric he held in his hands, which happened to be the top half of his beloved shirt.   
  
“Heh. Guess I’m replacing it again then,” he sighed, watching as Emily playfully gnawed at and rolled in the other half of the shirt.

“You could always wear it as a crop top,” Ronaldo giggled, wiping away tears of laughter.

“You know I can’t rock those.” Lars looked at the pile of clothes he still had yet to pack. “And at this rate, I’m never going to get anything done. I have to get this suitcase packed again and pack up supplies for Halo-Halo.”

“I could keep Emily occupied for a few hours so you can get to work on that,” Ronaldo offered, scooping up the gemling.

“Would you?” Lars grinned thankfully. “I have to run to the pet store too. If you could keep her downstairs or, heck, even out of the house for a bit, I’d appreciate it.”

“No trouble,” Ronaldo beamed. “I think we’re long overdue for a fun daddy-daughter afternoon together, huh Em?”

Emily was still preoccupied with chewing Lars’ shirt but squeaked through the cloth.

“Oh!” Lars perked up. “There’s a beach shop on the boardwalk where the sunglass shack used to be. There’s some beach toys I saw that Emily might like. If you take her there, lemme lend you some cash to get her a sand bucket and one of those cute hats or something.”

“What good would they be on the ship though?”

“Well, nothing, but that doesn’t matter,” Lars said. “Whenever we visit Earth again in the future, Emily has some fun stuff to look forward to when we get here! “

“Fair point!” Ronaldo grinned. “The beach oughta be fun. Especially since I still have that metal detector I used to look for remnants of alien technology.”

“Or quarters?” Lars snickered, folding another shirt.

“Either way! Useful,” Ronaldo insisted, grabbing his backpack. “Alright then, we’ll be back in a few hours! Have fun packing!”

“Thanks, babe!” Lars waved him and Emily off, then stared at Halo-Halo, who was almost looking a bit smug, curled up on his jeans.

“This is going to be a war, isn’t it?”

* * *

After a quick trip to the shop Lars recommended, Ronaldo was happily carrying Emily to the beach in the sand bucket he’d just purchased, not even minding as she teethed on the plastic shovel that came with it. She looked too cute in the little sunhat he bought that had her name on it.

“Ready to be a paleontologist, Emily, my dear?” he asked as he walked down the incline onto the sand and set the bucket down, watching her tumble out with an excitable squeak.  
  
Although she obviously didn’t quite understand what he was saying, she agreed by letting out another delighted squeak in-between the plastic around her teeth. Ronaldo chuckled, gently grabbing for the shovel only to be met with Emily tugging backward, not wanting to give it up so easily. The first mate frowned.   
  
“Okay, Emily,” he spoke calmly and stretched his hand out toward her, “if you want me to show you how to dig, you’re gonna have to give me that.”   
  
She glared cautiously at him for a while before slowly spitting the shovel out into his hand. Ronaldo winced as the slobber-coated plastic tool fell onto his skin. “Alright. Y-You...sure did give that to me, huh?”   
  
Emily squeaked out a laugh. “Papa!”   
  
“Yeah, your papa’s got drool all over his hand now,” he sighed, playfully rolling his eyes and wiping it on his pants leg. “Alright. Now, let us begin digging 101! The first thing you do is position the shovel to where-”   
  
“Hey! Where should we put our things?”   
  
“I dunno. Just somewhere in the shade.”   
  
Ronaldo jumped at the sound of a familiar voice. He couldn’t quite put his finger on who it was, but it was definitely one he’d heard before somewhere. Craning his neck to see where it came from, the first mate saw two girls standing away from him, one with curly black hair and the other with a short brown pixie cut. It didn’t look like anyone he recognized.   
  
“Huh,” he mused to himself. They must have just been a frequent employee at the fry shop or something. “Okay. Now, back to-”   
  
Before Ronaldo could focus his attention back toward Emily, the brown-haired girl turned around, and he was able to make out what was a very familiar freckled face with bright blue eyes that he thought he’d never see again.

Ronaldo took in a deep breath as he spoke quietly, with slight dread. “Ohhh nooooo…Jane.”

Jane had been his girlfriend back when he was still on Earth, not that there was anything wrong with that because she was great and all. But Ronaldo had sort of forgotten until just about now that he really hadn’t actually _broken up_ with her when he first stepped into Lars’ ship and effectively his life. She had always been so trusting of him that she probably just assumed he was going to call her once he came back...whenever that would be. He had no idea how many nights of pining and longing the poor girl had dedicated to him in the last three years. And he also had no idea how he was going to tell her that he was recently engaged to a pink space pirate.

Well...only if she actually talked to him or saw him. Which, to his relief, she didn’t seem to notice him right now. Heck, he didn’t even know if she could recognize him. After all, she never did see his new hue or anything.

Ronaldo opted to navigate Emily further down the shoreline just so Jane wouldn’t hear him and sat the little gemling down on the sand. “Now...where was I? Ah yes, we position the shovel to where we-hey Emily, are you paying attention?”   
  
He frowned, watching her sniff at the ground. Suddenly, she was scrambling her claws into it, creating a very tidy, deep hole within a matter of seconds. She chirped in delight as she looked at her papa, now covered in sand. Spitting some out himself, Ronaldo couldn’t help but grin.   
  
“Guess that’s one way to do it! Far more efficient even! But let me show you how to use a shovel just for sake of humoring me, okay?”

Before Emily could chirp in agreement, her attention was caught by an approaching figure. She let out a small chirp of confusion.

“...Ronaldo?” a voice spoke up from behind. “Is that you?”

Jumping in fear at the voice, Ronaldo turned around. Standing in front of him and staring at him with a bewildered expression was no other than Jane himself. For a while, he froze and had no idea what to say. But then, something inside of him kicked in.  
  
“I...don’t know who that is, sorry,” he spat out as quickly as possible, immediately scooping Emily up in the sand pail and running.

“Papa!” Emily whined, wanting to keep playing in the sand.

“Sorry baby, but high tide will come in eventually, and papa has a lot of other great things for us to do together!” he assured, looking over his shoulder. Jane still stood there with a puzzled expression and didn’t seem to be chasing after him.

When he'd run a good distance, close to Steven's home, Ronaldo decided it was a good chance to show Emily the tide pools and the life that brimmed in them. Or...what lingered in them. They weren't exactly as fabulous as Ronaldo had remembered. The few measly brine shrimp and anemone weren't quite enough to keep Emily's attention, and she kept wandering toward the tide, wanting to experience more water.

Ronaldo quickly pulled her back. “Sorry, but if you get swept out there, I can't swim, so let's wait until you're older.”

Emily whined and squirmed in defiance, and as Ronaldo tried to calm her, he saw Jane and her companion walking along the shoreline, closer to his direction. He immediately snapped his gaze to the strip of businesses above the beach, desperate for an escape. “Okay, Emily! You hungry?!”

“No!” the fussy gemling whined, knowing exactly what the word meant.

“Well I am! Let's have lunch, okay?”   
  
Ronaldo ushered her off the sand, trying to stay out of Jane's line of sight and hurried to the establishment he'd frequented a lot as a teenager: Fish Stew Pizza. It still had the familiar greasy smell of comfort and age as he walked in, and he was happy to see his favorite table was empty. In fact, the whole place was. Even better!

“Well, would you look who decided to drop by!” Kiki greeted him as she stepped out of the kitchen. “Hey, Ronaldo! Long time no see. You taking a break from being a spaceman?”

“Just a short one,” Ronaldo chuckled. “Can I have two slices of the house special?”

“No!” Emily cut in, trying to weasel out of her dad’s arms.

“Oh, so that's the baby rock Lars was talking about?” Kiki gushed. “What a cutie pie!”

“Yeah!” Ronaldo puffed his chest with pride then swallowed. “Uh...Jane doesn't come here often, does she?”

“Who?”

“Nevermind!” Ronaldo waved her off as he sat down, settling Emily in the booster seat nearby and praying she'd hold still.   
  
While he was waiting on the pizza to arrive, the first mate found himself glancing out the window every quarter of a second to make sure he hadn’t been followed. Things seemed to be looking up so far. He hadn’t noticed a sign of Jane or the girl she was with. However, the content feeling in his gut soon faded away when he heard the sound of gnawing nearby.   
  
Turning to face Emily, Ronaldo saw her viciously chewing away at her booster seat, leaving teeth marks up and down its form. He gasped and grabbed for her in an attempt to stop the chewing.   
  
“Emily!” he scolded. “Don’t do that! I don’t want to have to pay for-”   
  
“Hey, Ronaldo!”   
  
He lurched forward in surprise and dread at the sound of someone calling his name but luckily turned around to find Jenny, holding his order in her hands. She’d picked up on his cautious reaction and couldn’t help but smile.   
  
“Did you see a ghost or something?” she laughed, putting the pizza down on the table.   
  
“Heh. No, that’s not it.” He adjusted his glasses, trying hard not to lose his cool.   
  
A warm smile spread across Jenny’s face. “I haven’t seen you and Lars in ages, man! What’s new with you?” She looked to Emily. “Oooh, is that you and Lars’ kid he told us about!?”   
  
“Yep, that’s Emily, our alien daughter.” He chuckled again, unable to figure out an easier way to explain her existence.   
  
Thankfully, Jenny simply shrugged and went with it. “Nice! She sure is cute.”   
  
“Yeah.” Ronaldo decided that maybe small talk with Jenny would help him get his mind off Jane’s presence looming over his head. “So, how’s everything in Beach City? How’s the band?”

“Oh man, the band has been absolutely insane! We’ve been having jam sessions all over town every week, and maybe someday we’ll get an actual album made or something! We’ve got EPs on AudioCloud, but that’s so basic.” She giggled. “Sour Cream was rooting through some of his mom’s stuff in the attic, wondering if any of his lame bio-dad left anything that can help us with networking. He had to have some contacts in the record business.”

“If he did, they’re probably contacts well over twenty years old. You might not find much from that,” Ronaldo said. “Unless you can make a record deal with an actual zombie...which would help your brand! And then you’d find a wider audience of actual undead citizens who have been deprived of the music they deserve!”

“I don’t think that’ll be happenin’ anytime soon, but it is a nice idea,” Jenny snickered as she teasingly patted Ronaldo on top of the head. He rolled his eyes, turning around just in time to see Emily unscrew the cap off the parmesan cheese shaker, pouring it all over her lap.

“Oh no!” Ronaldo yelped, reaching over the table to lift her up. “Emily, you’re doing it wrong! You’re supposed to eat the packets!”

“No!” the Emerald chirped, throwing parmesan cheese in his face.

“Oh my god, she opened the red pepper too!” Jenny pointed out, seeing the pile of it right on the floor.

“Emily, you can’t make a mess like that!” Ronaldo scolded gently, putting her back in her chair as he apologetically grabbed napkins to sweep the mess off the floor. “Sorry about that, Jen. She’s not used to Earth manners.”

“Is she not used to Earth food either?” Jenny muttered, watching Emily climb out of the chair she chewed up to start gnawing efficiently at the tablecloth, leaving large tears and marks in it.

“Aside from cookies, I don’t know. Lars is the one who feeds her, and he’s never really told me what-” Ronaldo was cut off when he noticed just why Jenny had asked that. “Emily, no! Eat the _pizza_! A tablecloth is not food!”

“No!” Emily smiled as she stuffed more of the tablecloth into her mouth.

“What is your green rock child doing?!” Kofi suddenly boomed as he burst out of the kitchen. “Don’t you know how much these tablecloths are?!”

“Dad, they’re from the dollar store!” Jenny cut in.

“Jennifer, for the last time, they are handsewn from Ghana!”

“Dollar store,” Jenny sang under her breath as she grabbed for a broom.

“Why is it always _my_ shop that gets damaged by rock people?!” Kofi exclaimed in despair.

“Uhhhh, that’s actually an offensive term, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use it around my daughter, thank you,” Ronaldo cut in blankly, narrowing his eyes.

“If your child causes anymore damage, I’m going to throw you both out!”   
  
The patriarchal Pizza pointed at Ronaldo, even as Kiki and Jenny both tried to calm him down. Among the scene, nobody noticed Emily scaling the wall to climb onto Ronaldo’s hair. That was until she accidentally knocked over a framed photo. It didn’t break, but it landed on the table with a smack, leaving everyone to stare at it.

Kofi was very prompt on his promise, shoving a very indignant Ronaldo out the door, Emily scrambling and fussing in her father’s arms.

“Oh, come on! This is her first time on Earth! She doesn’t know any better! Why do you hate children!?” Ronaldo called through the door as the ‘open’ sign was angrily flipped to ‘closed.’   
  
“....Okay! I’ll pay for the pizza later!” he assured loudly before turning his stare to his daughter. “Emily, I didn’t get to eat!”

“No!” She climbed up his arm, trying to look in the window of the pizza place again.

Before Ronaldo could really think of what to do next, he caught sight of Jane walking along the boardwalk with her companion, and his immediate thought was to run in the opposite direction, grinning nervously to Emily. “Hey sweetie, papa has a new idea for fun!”   
  
He ran into the first shop he saw that was big enough to hide in. It was just the post office, but maybe Emily would find it interesting? Well, Ronaldo had no time to figure that out because right as he saw Jane again, he made a beeline for whatever diversion was farthest away. Emily vocalized confusion every time he made her leave before she even had time to figure out what it was her papa wanted to do there.

Eventually, they ended up near Funland Arcade after who-knows-how-many speedy activities in town to avoid Jane. Ronaldo slouched on a bench, sighing in relief. “I-Isn’t this fun Emily?”

Emily squirmed right out of his arms in frustration and darted under one of the game cabinets, peeking out with a frown.

“E-Emily, don’t hide under the game. Come on! Let me show you how to play one of them.” He tried to think of the ones he remembered most in order to form a suggestion. “How about Teens of Rage? I know you’re not a teen yet, but my little brother played it before he was! Well, granted I think he started having a midlife crisis around age eleven, but whatever.”   
  
Ronaldo approached the cabinet, startled as Emily suddenly hissed at him. “Hey, don’t do that!” He frowned, trying to reach for her again, only to get another hiss in response. She began backing even farther underneath the game.

“Emily, if you sit under there all day, you’ll miss out on all the games and the prizes and...” Ronaldo’s voice trailed away as he saw Jane walk into the arcade with her companion, chatting and laughing as they shared a cotton candy. He immediately started to panic.

“Nevermind, we have to go now!” He began to scramble onto his hands and knees to try and grab Emily, but she hissed again, wedging herself right up under the cabinet where he couldn’t reach her.

“Emily, I’m not playing around! We have to leave! I’ll take you for ice cream or something!” He grew impatient, glancing between the game cabinet and to where Jane was loitering happily, unaware he was even there.

When Ronaldo jammed his hands underneath the game cabinet to reach Emily, the gemling barked another “No!” and began to swipe her claws at his hand. Pulling back with a noise of shock at the sudden attack, Ronaldo lost his temper and snapped.  
  
“EMILY BARRIGA-FRYMAN, GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW!!!”

The snarl on her face immediately changed into a look of shock at the loudness of her father’s voice, and after just a shaky second of silence, her face crumbled, and she began to bawl loudly. Ronaldo’s stomach turned, and his flight response almost immediately extinguished.

“Wh-...E-Emily-” He began to fumble with words, realizing exactly what he had just done. He immediately felt horrible. Ronaldo hadn’t meant to raise his voice at her like that.

Emily cried loudly and without reserve, trying to express how exhausted, overstimulated and terrified she was in that moment. She just wanted to have fun with her papa, and none of this was fun to her at all.

“Ronaldo?” Jane’s voice suddenly piped up from behind the pink human.

Holding in a breath, Ronaldo let it out slowly as he realized there was no avoiding this now and turned around. “Hi, Jane.”

Jane just stared at him in silence for a few seconds, glancing at him, then at the sobbing gemling under the arcade cabinet, then at him again. “Do you uh...need a little help there?”

“No,” Ronaldo sighed. “She’s just having a meltdown. I’ve been running her all over the place today,” he realized, running a hand through his hair.

“Oh...okay….” she mumbled, still looking at Emily. She then moved her gaze toward Ronaldo’s arm, observing his new complexion. “You look....really different.”

“Yeah...space has been a bit of an adventure,” he sighed. “Long story.”

“I….can imagine,” she said, giving an awkward smile. “Well...it’s good to see you back in town. We have to catch up on stuff sometime.”

“Look…” Ronaldo rubbed the back of his head. “I...guess it’s been like three years since we last saw each other, and I...guess I have to come clean and say I’m kind of in another relationship, and we’re-”

“Oh, I already knew,” she cut in. “Steven told me a year or two ago when he went to the movies with his friend.”

“...Oh….oh!” Ronaldo was relieved but also slightly annoyed that he hadn’t known about this. “Well...I hope that’s okay…”

“Oh yeah, it’s fine!” she laughed. “Don’t worry about it! I’ve been going out with Sarah for the last six months.” She pointed to her companion, who gave a friendly wave. “What, you thought I was pining for you non-stop for three years without contact?”

“Hahaaaaa what?” Ronaldo awkwardly laughed, “No way!”  
  
“Aww, c’mon!” Jane giggled again, giving Ronaldo a nudge with her elbow. “You know I’m not that sappy. I mean, I didn’t even cry when Koala Princess met her mom for the first time.”   
  
“Heh. Yeah, you got me there.” He couldn’t help but laugh again at the memory. However, the sound of Emily’s crying because present to him again, and he frowned.   
  
Jane seemed to realize what upset him and looked down. “Uhhh...who is she, exactly?”   
  
“Oh! Well…” Ronaldo swallowed hard. “That’s Emily. She’s like...an alien, but in a way, she’s also me and Lars-I mean, my boyfriend’s adopted daughter? I know it’s crazy, but-”   
  
“Awwww, why didn’t you tell me you had a kid!?” Jane’s eyes lit up, and she squealed a bit in excitement. “That’s sooo cool, Ronaldo!”   
  
He breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah, sorry about that. I’m still getting used to the whole fatherhood thing, but I’m making progress. She’s normally not...well, crying, but...yeah.”   
  
“Hmmmm…” Jane looked down at the tiny gem, who saw her and glanced up in response, her wails stopping but tears still in her eyes. Smiling at the little alien, she looked to Ronaldo. “Mind if I help out? I babysit my little cousin all the time, so I might have a few tricks up my sleeve.”   
  
“No, go ahead!”   
  
Bending down, Jane extended a hand to Emily. “Hey there, pretty little girl. Why are you crying?”   
  
Emily responded by moving her wide pupils to focus on the human girl’s hand. She sniffed at one of her fingers cautiously.   
  
Ronaldo gasped. “Wait, careful! She bites-”   
  
He was cut off by Jane erupting into laughter as Emily viciously licked at her finger. “H-Hey! That tickles!”   
  
The little gem chirped happily, smiling again and fluffing out the fur on her neck. Jane carefully scooped her up in her arms and held her, causing Emily to let out happy giggles and squeaks. She cradled her gently and smiled down.   
  
“She’s precious, Ronaldo. If I ever wind up with a kid myself, you’ll have to call us over for a playdate.”   
  
“That I will,” Ronaldo chuckled. “Hopefully, Emily won’t try to eat them.”   
  
Jane let out another cheery laugh. “This little harmless angel?” She scratched underneath Emily’s chin, causing her to shut her eyes and let out a content purr.   
  
“You’d be surprised of what she’s capable of. Trust me.”   
  
After a bit more gentle cuddling and cooing, Jane handed the gemling back over to Ronaldo, who apologetically ruffled her hair. “Aww, Em, I didn't mean to yell at you or anything. You probably were just tired of being dragged around all day, huh?”

Emily gave a sharp chirp, content to knead her claws comfortingly into his shirt. He winced, feeling the needle-prick fingers but managed to give a thankful smile to Jane.

“I was going to play some games here, but I've been running around all day, and Emily probably wants to nap.” He comfortingly petted his daughter's hair. “I'll call you the next time I'm back in Beach City, okay?”

“Please do!” Jane grinned. “I need some sort of entertaining space drama story every now and then. Life around here’s pretty boring.”  
  
“Yeah,” Ronaldo chuckled, sharing a knowing glance with his daughter. “Sure is, huh?”

The walk home was easy and slow, Ronaldo deciding it would be plenty to keep Emily calm. Although it did help to stop for ice cream along the way, proven by the smile on Emily's sticky, chocolate smeared face when they got home.

Lars was finishing off a cup of tea at the kitchen table when his fiancee and daughter came in and smiled tiredly at them. “There’s my two favorite not-quite-people. Have a fun day?”  
  
Ronaldo grinned back. “Yeah. Busy though.”   
  
“Heh. I can imagine,” Lars chuckled, taking another sip from the cup he held. “Did she give you a run for your money?”   
  
“Well…” The first mate tried to think of how to go about explaining the day’s events to his fiancee but only sighed again, shaking his head and laughing. “You could say that, yeah.” He glanced down to the green bundle of fur in his arms.   
  
“That’s my girl! Lemme see her,” Lars asked, reaching out his hands. Ronaldo handed Emily over to him, and she chirped happily in response. “Hey there! What’s that all over your mouth?”   
  
“Turns out she’s even worse at eating ice cream than I am,” Ronaldo commented, aiming to sit down on a chair but stopping himself when he saw that it was already taken by a bathing Halo-Halo. “Oops. Sorry, boy!” The cat licked his paw in response.   
  
“I talked to the Rutiles on the way home,” Lars continued, setting Emily down on the table gently. “The ship’s all fueled up and ready to go! You still cool with leaving in the morning?”   
  
“Um, yeah! It’s about time we got ourselves back into space. No offense to Earth or anything, but man, it’s been ages.”   
  
“In our defense, it’d been ages since we visited too,” Lars replied. His smile fell a little. “I’m gonna miss it, though.”   
  
“Hey,” Ronaldo cut in before he could get too mopey, putting a hand on his shoulder, “we can come back any time we like! I mean, we spent this whole trip tying up all sorts of loose ends that were preventing us from coming here. So now it’s like we can just...y’know...come back like normal?” He smiled nervously. “Sorry, I’m not good at morals.”   
  
“Don’t worry. I get what you mean.” Lars smiled and reached his hand out across the table to fall on top of Ronaldo’s, the ring on his finger gleaming in the light.

_When I was down_

_I was your clown_

_Right from the start_

_I gave you my heart_

_Ohhh, I gave you my heart_   
  


 

  
  


  
  


  
  



	32. With a Little Help From My Friends

_ Do you need anybody? _

_ I need somebody to love _

“And that’s how I got banned from that lobster restaurant,” Mal continued the story she’d been telling to Emerald. She smiled proudly, as if hoping to impress her new captain.   
Bloodstone, who had heard this story about a thousand times before, simply rolled her eyes and giggled. “That’s Mal for you,” she whispered, nudging Emerald’s side. “Acts all tough on the outside, but the second she sees some kind of cute sea creature, she’s head over heels.”   
  
The fusion heard what the other gem was saying about her and gasped, all four of her eyes darting back and forth. “H-Hey! That’s not true! I just didn’t want to let those little guys die, y’know. They didn’t do anything wrong!”   
  
“You just furthered my point,” the mechanic laughed, snorting.

“Whatever.” Mal rolled her eyes and moved her focus to the window outside, taking in space’s vast and unfamiliar atmosphere. “I gotta hand it to ya, Emerald. Space is pretty impressive.”   
  
“Oh, please!” the captain scoffed. “It is at first, sure, but after a while, it gets a little old.”   
  
“I second that notion,” one of the Hematites groaned from her chair. “Being in space is neat and all, but I haven’t left this chair in ages!”   
  
“Yeah, what she said!” her twin followed. “I wanna run!”   
  
“It’s only been a few hours since our last stop,” Star Sapphire grumbled, burying her face in her palm as she thought of how much whining she’d have to endure from these two until they parked the ship again.    
  
“I kind of agree with the Hematites,” Ruby’s voice popped up from the engine room, her giant head peeking out. “There’s not much to do down here all by myself!”   
  
Bloodstone frowned at her crewmates’ negativity. “Well, I’m sure there’s something to do! We probably just don’t know what that is yet.”   
  
“Huh?” asked the Hematites in unison.   
  
“I mean, Emerald didn’t know anything about Earth games when we met her,” Bloodstone continued, “and we don’t know anything about space games! It’s our turn to learn.” She flipped around, giving Emerald a wry smile.   
  
The captain gem screwed up her face at the other, knowing whatever she had in mind couldn’t be to her favor if she was giving her such a look. “Oh...what is it?”   
  
“Teach us some space games!” The mechanic leapt upward and bounded closer to Emerald until their faces were almost touching. “There’s gotta be something you did to pass the time up here that we can do as a crew, right? Show it to us! Pleeeeeease?”   
  
Emerald frowned. “Uh...well...I’m not quite sure I have any games to play up here. I never really partook in that kind of folly.”   
  
A disappointed groan could be heard from throughout the ship at Emerald’s confession.   
  
“Aw, c’mon!” Mal sighed in frustration. “Just when I thought you were getting cool.”   
  
“Hey, it’s not my fault all I did up here was work, get betrayed by everyone I ever trusted and chase after those hideous, disgusting Off Colors!” she snapped. “It’s all I could do! I’ve never been able to just…..”   
  
Her voice trailed off as an idea crossed her mind, causing her lips to curl into a wicked smile as she glanced over at the communicator screen at the front of the ship.    
  
“Actually, never mind what I said. I have the  _ perfect _ idea.”

* * *

 

Lars had been right in the middle of a nice hot shower when the ship alarm screamed to warn him of an incoming message. When it wouldn’t stop going off, he almost had a fit, shutting off the water and having to quickly dry himself and grab something to cover up.

“Why didn’t any of you answer it?!” he snapped at his bewildered crew and Ronaldo.

“Er...you’re the only one with permission to do it anymore, ever since Ronaldo uh...almost got us in contact with the Diamonds while you were both inebriated. Remember?” Rhodonite piped up nervously. Ronaldo gave an embarrassed wave to him from his seat.

Lars ran a hand across his face exasperatedly, muttering about how they only got so much hot water on their spacecraft per every visit to Earth, and that he just wanted ten minutes of it. After smashing the button with his finger aggressively, the captain glared at the screen as it came to life.

Emerald grinned right in his scowling face. “Well, well, well. Hello there, Captain. What an  _ adorable _ little dress you have on.”

“It’s called a robe,” he grumbled. “What do you want, Emerald? I have a lot of things to do.”

“Why, I felt it would be considerate for me introduce you to the faces of the individuals who will see to you and your crew’s eventual destruction!” she chirped with glee, swiveling her chair aside to gesture in her crew. “I’m sure you remember Bloodstone!”

“Uh, hi!” her second in command waved at the screen, still friendly as ever.

“Oh, hey there, Freckles. You keeping your gem in one piece still?” Lars’ tone turned friendly.

“Yeah, so far! How was Earth? How’s your family doing? Are they-”

“Alright, thank you, Bloodstone! Very nice.” Emerald nudged her off screen before she could get into a chummy ramble. “My twin assassins-”

“We’re assassins? I thought we were-”

“Shhhh!” Emerald hushed one of the Hematites. “These are my most trusted assassins! They’ve trained in the forests of Earth for eons, and they’ll be able to crush you all like gravel!”

“Oh look!” one of the Rutiles whispered.

“Two Hematites!”

“Are you two joined at the hip too?!” Lars’ twin pilots poked onto screen to talk to the other two gems, who were stunned to see identical gems standing together.

“No but-” one of the Hematites began, but she cut her sentence off into a gasp. “You two are! Holy stars, that’s so….AWESOME!”

“Imagine how efficient we’d be if we were joined together like that!” her twin squealed. “You have to tell us how it works! Who has which leg, and if one of you eats, can the other taste it?!”

The Rutiles were more than eager to respond, but before they could, Emerald screeched for Mal to introduce herself to their enemies.

The mint-green fusion had her face right up against the screen, all four eyes glaring intensely to get a good look at everyone in view. “Wow. I forgot how ugly humans are compared to us!”

“I resent that,” Ronaldo grumbled while Lars rolled his eyes.

“O-oh dear, are you a fusion too?” Rhodonite gulped, pointing at Mal on the screen.

“You bet it, baby! And it looks like I’m not the only one!” She stared with interest at the navigator gem. “I haven’t seen a Pearl since I bailed off Homeworld! And fused with a Ruby? I gotta say, you guys really pull it off!”

“I-I….” Rhodonite swallowed her apprehension to accept the compliment, clearing her throat. “Well...thank you.”

“Mal, don’t forget you could crush her in an instant!”  Emerald cut in, trying to stop the conversation from getting too friendly.

“Huh. I guess you’re not wrong!” Rhodonite gushed, giving almost a flirty gesture. “You know, Jaspers and Lapises are both known for their grand physical feats of power!”

“Aww, you’re just trying to butter me up,” Mal snickered, getting shoved out of view by an irritated Emerald. 

Before the elite gem could make a threat, a large foot nearly kicked her out of the way. “I heard something about a Ruby! Where is the Ruby?!” Ruby boomed, having to crouch to get in view of the screen.

“ _ Ohhhh  my! _ ” Fluorite spoke with calm surprise. “ _ And  I thought  I was a large  gem….how many are  you? _ ”

Ruby had to count on her fingers to remember. It took a second, but she finally spoke up. “Oh! Five!”

“ _ Five….well,  that’s lovely, _ ” the grandmotherly gem sighed, clasping her hands.

“I predict that I’m going to ruin this attempt at a threatening message.” Star Sapphire poked her head up into view to get a glimpse at Lars’ own recruited Sapphire. “What predictions do you have over there?”

Before any answer could be made, Emerald shrieked in fury, annoyed at Lars’ smug look of delight and her crew’s inability to invoke terror. “We’ll call you back later!” she growled and abruptly cut communication.

“Oh! I predict that I will meet another Sapphire! How exciting and validating!” Padparadscha cheered at the screen a few seconds later.

The Off Colors sat in awkward silence for at least a minute before Yellow Star spoke up. “We didn’t even get to introduce ourselves! What a rip-off.”

“Maybe Emerald will recruit some Zircons like us in space?” Blue Moon added hopefully. “I mean, we were late editions.”

“I hope we don’t find out,” Lars rolled his eyes. “The less we have to talk to Emerald, the better.” He tried to grab for his towel to rub at his wet hair, only to realize that Emily had absconded with it without notice and was chewing it contently on the floor. “And I don’t really want Emerald knowing about her either.” He pointed at his daughter, who happily began to froth spit bubbles.

“Good idea,” Ronaldo added.

“Hello? Other Sapphire?” Padparadscha spoke to the screen again, confused at the lack of reply. 

* * *

“What...was...THAT?!” Emerald screamed at her crew, ready to blow a gasket. “That was NOT invoking fear in our enemies!!! That was….HIDEOUS!!!”  
  
“What are you talking about?” Mal asked, looking genuinely confused.  
  
“I thought it went pretty well,” Star Sapphire commented.  
  
“Yeah!” Ruby said with a smile. “They seemed really nice.”  
  
“That’s the problem, you daft pebble!” Emerald spat. “They not nice! They’re hideous! Freaks! Scoundrels!”  
  
“Are you sure?” asked Bloodstone, tapping her captain’s shoulder nervously. “Because they seemed really nice when they healed me.”  
  
“They did what!?” Mal gasped, only hearing some of what was said.  
  
“Nothing!” Emerald barked, glaring at Bloodstone with a silent warning to never bring that up again. Her first mate understood, nodding and looking down. “But you’re supposed to loathe them as much as I do!”  
  
“Why would we not like them if they never did anything to wrong us?” asked one of the Hematites.  
  
The other nodded. “Yeah! I don’t get it.”  
  
The captain gem groaned, burying her face in her palms. “You don’t remember all those stories I told you of the hideous off-colored human and his band of rogues!?”  
  
“Yeah, but….are you sure those are the same people?” Bloodstone asked. “Because I didn’t see a chimpanzee like you promised. And I’m not gonna say I was excited for it or anything, but those are pretty rare, so-”  
  
“I don’t have time for this,” Emerald grumbled, cutting her crewmate off. “Okay, okay. So….you mentioned not liking them because they’ve never done anything to hurt you specifically, correct?”  
  
The rest of the crew all looked to each other for a moment, considering what she had said. After a while of thinking, they nodded their heads and shrugged in unison.  
  
“Yeah, pretty much,” Star Sapphire confessed.  
  
“Alright….” The ex-elite began pacing, thinking out loud. “Then I’m just gonna have to get them to hurt you guys….”  
  
“What!?” Mal spat, echoing the shocked reactions of the other gems around her. “Are you crazy!? Why would you want to hurt your own crew?”  
  
Emerald seemed shocked at the suggestion. “Not physically hurt, goodness! I’m not a Diamond! I just meant….ahhh, I mean...I wouldn’t get them to hurt you! I am just expecting them to try and hurt you all eventually!”

“Not following here.”

“You see, they’re only friendly and nice to you now because they know you’re not as accustomed to space as they are. Once they have you eating out of their hands? SNAP! They’ll get you!!!” she warned with a dramatic flair. “It is just like them to act nice now, but they lose the masks faster than you can blink!”

The crew gasped, and Bloodstone put her hands on her cheeks. “Oh! That makes complete sense!”

“What scoundrels!” Hematite whispered, followed by her sister.   
  
“They really tried to trick us!”

“What do we do?” Ruby looked to Mal, who crossed her arms and glanced over at Emearld.

“Yeah. What do we do?”

“Easy! Show them no mercy, and the moment their ship is in our sight, we crush them into dust!!!” Emerald laughed maniacally.

“Alright!”

“Awesome!”

“So….where are they?”

Emerald perked at Star Sapphire’s question and swallowed. “Uh...we’ll have to track them on our radars, but don’t worry! The heat signature from their nova thrusters is super easy to track. I find them at least three times in a week.”

“With us as your crew, we’ll find them  _ four _ times a week!” Bloodstone gave Emerald’s hand a squeeze.

“And every time we do, we’ll leave them shaking in their boots!” Mal grinned.

Grinning with malicious glee, Emerald gave Bloodstone’s hand a squeeze in return. It was great to have a crew again.

_ Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends... _

  
  



	33. Dreams (II)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo boy, this next handful of chapters was a trip and a half for us to write. Enjoy...

_Now here I go again, I see the crystal visions_

_I keep my visions to myself..._

  
Just like on Earth, Ronaldo found he was most alert when night hours fell. Granted that didn’t mean much since space travel was almost always done in the dark, but his internal clock still didn’t falter. When he was most tired, that was usually a signal it was bedtime back on Earth…which usually was around 4 or 5 AM.

The lights had been dimmed by Lars’ request when he’d headed off to bed hours earlier, but Ronaldo was perfectly capable of working in the dark. For the last week or so, he’d been building his own custom computer in his spare time using borrowed parts from Earth. It was a lot of delicate handiwork, but nothing he couldn’t handle. Lars had taught him a few things about taking apart machines, and he was a fast learner.

When he started yawning enough to actually notice it, he decided it was time to call it a night and stretched his sore back out as he stood. Bidding goodnight to the Rutiles and Rhodonite, the only two still awake, he headed toward his and Lars’ private quarters.  

Opening the door, he intended to check on Emily before he retired, knowing Lars put her to bed much earlier. But before he could peer into the tiny bed they’d installed, he was alerted by a noise coming from his own that made his stomach churn.

Guttural, far-off whimpers and choked sobs came from Lars’ throat, and almost immediately, Ronaldo hurried over to see what was the matter. To his confusion, Lars was visibly still asleep but gripping tightly to whatever his hands laid on. His body thrashed as he continued to make noises: cries, words that sounded like begging and gasps.  
  
“L-Lars….?” Ronaldo’s voice trailed off as he became frozen there for a second. He’d seen Lars react to his dreams before. More than enough, he’d wake up to the sound of his beloved talking in his sleep or feel his foot crash into his side. But this was unlike anything he’d ever seen.  
  
Lars’ chest was rising and falling rapidly, as if he was struggling to breathe, and his fists gripped at whatever they could grasp so tightly that his knuckles began to turn white as a sheet despite his pink hue. Tears were starting to form in his eyes and were soon rapidly pouring down his face, and his nose was dripping as well. And the noises he made were ones that Ronaldo already knew would never leave his mind no matter how badly he wanted them to.  
  
“Lars!” he gasped, suddenly coming to his senses and running to him. Not exactly knowing the best way to go about waking him, Ronaldo gently laid a hand on his shoulder and started to rub it gently, hoping to rouse him from his fitful slumber. He continued to do so until he felt Lars starting to calm down.  
  
“It’s okay, babe,” he spoke softly, bringing another hand up to brush across Lars’. “You’re safe.”

Slowly, Lars began to stir, wet sniffles coming from him as he realized he was back to reality and stared at Ronaldo blearily. Tears rolled down his eyes as he blinked to clear his vision, and he realized his chest was still pounding from terror. Shaking, he sank against his fiance as he tried to calm himself down, not saying a single word.

“Lars...is everything okay? What happened?”

Lars realized his lips were dry, and he licked them before he spoke hoarsely under his breath. “Yeah. Just a nightmare. It wasn’t real.”

“Do you remember anything from it?”

“No,” Lars lied, holding back the urge to vomit from how fresh everything was in his mind. “It was just stupid stuff. I don’t even know why I’m crying.” He rubbed at his eyes with trembling hands.

“It’ll be okay.” Ronaldo tried to sooth him by rubbing his back. “I’m here.”

 _Thank god_ , Lars thought. His nightmare had almost convinced him of the opposite.

“Do you need anything? Food? Water? Blankets?” Ronaldo asked, keeping his voice down so as not to upset Lars further or make him feel like he was overly worried.

“N-No, I’ll be okay,” Lars sighed, resting his head against Ronaldo’s shoulder and sniffling a little. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep though.”

“That’s alright,” his first mate assured, climbing under the covers to hold him tight. “I won’t either, then.”

“You don’t have to stay up for me,” Lars mumbled with a concerned frown.

“If it means I can cuddle you, I don’t mind at all.”  
  
Ronaldo smiled, hoping Lars was comfortable in his arms under the blankets. He was still trembling though. Maybe something in his hands would make them feel better. Crawling out of bed for a second, Ronaldo gently scooped up Emily, careful not to wake her, and carried her over to the bed, putting her in Lars’ arms.  
  
“There we go.” Settling back under the covers, he kept Lars close in his arms, watching him hold their adopted daughter. “Is this better?”

“Yeah.” Lars grinned weakly, voice barely above a whisper. “Thanks...I might try to get back to sleep.”

“Okay,” Ronaldo whispered with a tired smile, cuddling Lars even more. “Let me know if you need anything.” He tried his best not to fall asleep, just in case Lars had any troubles during the night, but he reassured himself such a terrifying nightmare like that probably wouldn’t happen again.

Lars stared at the stars as he cradled Emily under the covers, hardly blinking. As much as he’d relaxed since waking up, he couldn’t relieve the tension, thinking about what might happen if he fell back to sleep.

This was not his first nightmare, and it wouldn’t be his last. And he didn’t want the next one to happen anytime during the remainder of the night.

* * *

After what seemed like a few hours later, Ronaldo found himself opening his eyes once more. He immediately yawned and stretched, feeling automatically warmed by the presence of his fiance and daughter. Looking down, he noticed that Emily was still sleeping soundly in Lars’ arms, but the captain was awake. He was staring at the ceiling, a slightly troubled and rather exhausted look on his face.  
  
Ronaldo frowned. “Morning, babe. You sleep well?”  
  
Lars lurched upright, clearly startled by the sudden voice. Upon realizing it was just Ronaldo, he took a deep breath to calm himself down and gave a half-smile. “Oh. Heh, yeah. Sure did. You?”  
  
“Yeah….”  
  
The first mate felt his heart sink. It was obvious that Lars hadn’t been telling the truth. Something was seriously bothering him. There was no doubt that it was linked to whatever the nightmare was. Ronaldo’s mind flashed back to the sight of his beloved partner tossing and turning in his bed while screaming, and he shuddered, feeling a pang of sadness for the other creep up on him.  
  
“You ready to get up?” Ronaldo asked.  
  
“I don’t know. I wanna stay with Emily a bit longer,” Lars replied, voice sounding drained in every way possible. “You can if you want to.”  
  
“Okay….” He really didn’t want to. Instead, he wanted to wrap his arms around Lars, kiss his face and tell him that whatever he saw in his nightmare was never going to happen. But reassurance was hard when he didn’t even know what the horrid dream contained. He should probably make sure things were going well with the rest of the crew anyway.

However, after a while of being away from him, Ronaldo decided that Lars probably wasn’t going to feel much better until something happened to get his mind off things. He figured a good way to ensure that was giving Lars a nice breakfast in bed and save him the trouble of cooking.  
  
However, Ronaldo still wasn’t a very good cook, and while his effort to make anything beyond cereal was always a genuine one, it never helped the results. The omelette he’d tried to whip together was, for some inexplicable reason, sticking to the pan and searing itself to a crisp. By the time he had (semi) edible food on a plate for Lars, the captain had managed to drift off into light, fitful sleep, still holding Emily, and Ronaldo didn’t have the heart to wake him.

“Oh babe,” he sighed, heart aching for his exhausted fiance. He put the plate down on the nightstand and draped another blanket on top of Lars, careful not to smother Emily.

Ronaldo would have to tell the crew that their captain was out today.  
  
A few minutes after the first mate shut the door, the small gemling cradled underneath Lars’ arm began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes, stretching and letting her claws sink into the blanket underneath her tiny hands and feet. Smacking her lips, her first instinct was to immediately look to her father.  
  
He seemed to still be in a pretty deep sleep. This was confusing. Normally, he was awake by now. She was the one who always slept too long. Had he been like this for the several hours they were both asleep?  
  
“Papa?” she squeaked, gently kneading his arm in an attempt to rouse him. Other than a soft sigh that escaped mostly through his nose, Emily got no reaction whatsoever out of her dad.  
  
Cocking her head to the side, the small Emerald began to clamber up Lars’ shoulder. He didn’t even stir when her claws dug into his skin, only hissed air out from his lips and flinched a little. She’d never seen him in such a deep slumber, and it was starting to worry her.  
  
“P-Papa?” Emily tried to wake him again, getting close to his face and nuzzling his cheek with her face. Nothing.  
  
The little gem was starting to panic. She began calling “papa” over and over again and plastering her hands and feet all over her dad’s sleeping body and even chewed on his stretched earlobe a bit, only to receive nothing but the rise and fall of his chest. Was something wrong with her papa?  
  
Sucking in a deep breath, frantic to wake Lars and knowing this was the only other way she could, Emily suddenly let loose with a shattering screech, not even an inch away from her dad’s ear. Almost on cue, Lars sat upright with an equally loud scream, clutching his heart as if he was trying to keep it from flying straight out of his chest.

Before he could make sense of anything in that split moment, Emily chirped loudly in delight and began climbing up his arms.

“WHAT?!” he suddenly snapped. Only then did he notice Emily tumbling off him and onto the covers. She stared at him in shock, visibly frightened by the volume of his voice.

“O-oh no!” Lars gasped. “Emily, I didn’t know you were there; I-” He began to try and make some sort of explanation, some sort of reasoning for all of this. “I’ve just...been so tired,” he whimpered, running a hand over his face. “I’m just so tired, and I don’t know what to do.”

Emily gave a cautious step forward, putting her tiny hands on his arm. “Papa?”

“I’m sorry, Em,” he muttered forlornly into his hands, blinking away tears of frustration. “I’m just so tired.”

The tiny gem sadly crawled onto the mattress, tugging the sleeve of her father’s nightshirt to try and get him to lay back down.

“Papa,” she chirped, tugging his arm again. “Seep?”

Hearing her try to urge him to lay down and rest again, Lars gave a weak smile, his eyes filling with tears again.

“Okay.”

 

_Dreams of loneliness,_

_Like a heartbeat, drives you mad_

_In the stillness of remembering, what you had,_

_And what you lost..._

 


	34. Help Me

_ I've seen some hot hot blazes _

_ Come down to smoke and ash _

“Halo-Halooooo!” Ronaldo called, a bag of cat treats in his right hand. “You wanna snack, little man?”    
  
Although the ship’s pet cat didn’t need to eat, he enjoyed a snack now and then. Therefore, Ronaldo had asked Steven to get some of those little cat treats from the pet store. He’d watched plenty of TubeTube videos in which people used those treats to teach their cats how to sit and beg and do all kinds of cool things! Plus, he just wanted to reward Halo-Halo every now and then for being such a good boy.   
  
When he walked by the ship’s bathroom, he heard the sounds of violent hacking coming from inside. The first mate stopped in his tracks, noticing that the door was shut. Someone or something was definitely not having a good time in there. Curious and a little concerned, he gently knocked.   
  
“Halo-Halo? That you, buddy? Are you hacking up  _ another  _ hairball? I just cleaned the last one up!”   
  
“N-No!” a weak voice spat from behind the shut door. “I-It’s me….o-oh god-” The voice was cut off by more gagging noises, but it had spoken long enough for Ronaldo to know exactly who it belonged to. He felt a lump of worry form in his throat.   
  
“Lars!?”

“Don’t come in,” the voice behind the door croaked, followed by the sound of his stomach emptying itself into the sink or toilet.

“Are you okay?” Ronaldo gasped. “What’s wrong?”

“Just puking,” Lars coughed, voice echoing off the concave of whatever he was hunched over. “I think I ate something bad last night before I went to bed.”

“You were up really late last night…do you need me to hold your hair back?”

“No!” Lars snapped. “I’ll be out in a bit. It just smells really nasty, and I don’t want anyone in here.”

“Papa?” Emily had heard the noises coming from the door and stood beside Ronaldo as she scratched her tiny claws on it. “Papa???”

“Papa’s okay, Emily,” he groaned through the door. “Ron, can you distract her or something? I can handle this.”

Ronaldo was about to protest, but after hearing Lars vomit again, he winced and sighed. “Alright. C’mon Emily. Let’s go see what Fluorite is doing!”

“Papa!” she whined, reaching her hand for the door as Ronaldo carried her away.

“Papa’s just feeling a little sick,” Ronaldo reassured her. “We’ll leave him alone so he can try and feel better, okay?”

Emily didn’t like the answer, but she didn’t protest. Eventually, she was distracted by the grandmotherly attention of Fluorite, and Ronaldo headed back toward the bathroom. 

It was now empty and smelled as foul as Lars had warned but seemed to be clean. The first mate walked to his and Lars’ shared room, seeing him freshly slumped on the bed and looking near-death. Strands of his hair were curled and damp from sweat and having washed his clammy face, and his lovely dark eyes were red and puffy, probably from forced tears.

“Oh babe,” Ronaldo murmured, rubbing Lars’ back. “You’ve had a really shitty few weeks.”  From the nightmare Lars had a week ago, to the several close brushes with Homeworld forces and various problems with the ship, things didn’t seem to be going so well for him.

“I can’t do this,” Lars murmured, laying on his side and staring ahead with glazed eyes. “I just can’t do this.”

“It’ll be okay,” Ronaldo tried to assure gently, rubbing his shoulder. “You’ve just been under a lot of stress.”

“Yeah,” Lars mumbled, brow furrowing just a little. “Actually...I think I’ve been in space a little too long.”

Ronaldo was surprised to hear the words come out of Lars’ mouth, coupled with the almost hopeless look. “You…don’t mean you want to quit, do y-”

“No!” Lars cut him off. “I don’t wanna quit! I...I just...need to take a break. Maybe go back home for a little longer than a week. Get some air and stuff.”

“Yeah….maybe that would do us both some good,” Ronaldo sighed.   
  
“Mhmmm.” Lars scooted himself over to rest his head on his fiance’s leg.   
  
“What about the rest of the crew?” the first mate questioned, running his fingers through Lars’ ruffled hair that really needed a wash.    
  
“They can come and go as they please. If we’re needed in space for whatever reason, I think they’re strong enough to handle stuff on their own, right?” He looked to Ronaldo, as if wanting validation of his statement.   
  
Ronaldo nodded. “I think so. They’ve come a long way even from when I first met them. I’m sure it’s been even more of a change for you, huh?”   
  
“Heh. You know it. Before you arrived, they wouldn’t do anything unless I told them to. I think they have more confidence now, which is good.” Lars sighed happily. “I’m proud of them.”   
  
“Me too.” Ronaldo beamed, but then his expression faltered a little. “What about Emily?”   
  
“She’ll definitely be staying on Earth with us. She needs to spend more time there anyway, y’know? Get used to her home away from space.” He laughed a bit. “Halo-Halo can come with us too. I’m sure my mom would love to have a cat in the house again for a while.”

“Sounds good.” Ronaldo smiled, cradling Lars in his arms and kissing his cheek. “You should get some rest. I’ll talk with the crew about heading back to Earth, ‘kay?”

“Alright.” Lars nuzzled his face against his fiancee’s chest. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“I should tell you the same thing.” Ronaldo ruffled Lars’ hair as he helped him lay back down on the bed. “Need anything for your stomach?”

“I think it’ll be okay,” Lars assured with a smile, making sure it only weakened once Ronaldo had left the room.

* * *

Their ship had made it to Beach City a little after midnight. Lars felt bad for waking his parents up so late, but they were glad to see him. He had a lot of things he wanted to tell them, especially since they asked why he had returned unexpectedly, but it was late, and they all needed rest.

“We can talk in the morning,” Dante assured. “You look exhausted.”

“We both are,” Ronaldo said, setting Halo-Halo’s carrier down in the living room and opening the door, smiling as the pink cat cautiously made his way out into the open. He squeezed Lars’ hand, and Lars gave a tired squeeze back, balancing Emily in his arm as she slept.

Lars had been incredibly quiet the whole time they were with his parents. He was quiet going up the stairs with Ronaldo, quiet as he got ready for bed and even as he lay under the covers.

Ronaldo couldn’t help but worry just a little. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay,” Lars answered hoarsely. “Just tired.”

Sighing, Ronaldo kissed his cheek as he snuggled up with him and drifted off to sleep, telling himself they’d both be better after a long rest.

When he woke the next morning, the bed was empty, and Emily wasn’t in the guest room, which led him to think Lars let him sleep in. Heading downstairs, he heard murmuring coming from the kitchen table. Lars’ voice, then Martha’s, then Dante’s, occasionally responding to each other. Ronaldo couldn’t make out anything of what they were saying, but the tone was so hushed and concerned that it scared him a little.

Martha’s voice. “ _ Maybe you can go see- _ ”

Then Lars. “ _ That’s what I was thinking. _ ”

Dante chimed in. “ _ Today? If you can. _ ”

“ _ Yeah. I can. _ ”

Ronaldo cleared his throat to get the three’s attention, seeing them at the kitchen table with cups of coffee. They perked up, and the mood immediately changed.

“Oh! Mornin’, Ronnie!” Lars smiled nervously. “I let you sleep in today. You were zonked.”

“Aww, that’s sweet of you.” He kissed his lover’s cheek as he sat down near where Emily was in a high chair, crushing Cheerios with her tiny fists. “Sooooo, whatcha talkin’ about?”

Lars waved it off. “Nothing. I just, uhhh-”

“I asked him to run some errands and go check in on a family friend,” Martha immediately spoke up. “Dante and I needed an extra hand.”

“Oh!” Ronaldo nodded, not noticing Lars’ relieved smile to his mother. “Maybe I can come with?”

“It’s gonna be super boring.” Lars shrugged. “I thought that you might like to go see Topaz, and let her play with Emily a bit. Maybe you could take Halo-Halo over there too. Steven said she’s thinking about getting a cat after reading a pop-up book about them or something.”

Ronaldo scrubbed his chin in thought. “Awww, yeah, that does sound like more fun. Are you sure you want to run all those errands all alone though?”

“I’ll be fine.” Lars patted his hand. “I’ve never really needed help grabbing gardening supplies or anything.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”   
  
“I’m positive. Now, go out there and have fun with your kid and your cat.”   
  
Although something was telling the first mate not to leave his fiance alone, he did just as asked. Once he’d securely picked up Emily and put Halo-Halo inside his traveling carrier, he took both the gemling and the cat to his old home in the lighthouse. A sense of nostalgia flooded through him as he laid his eyes on the place he used to more or less call home. Momentarily setting Halo-Halo’s carrier down and knocking on the door, he stood there patiently until the large fusion opened it.   
  
When she saw who had come for a visit, Topaz immediately went in for a hug. However, she stopped herself when she noticed the small gem cradled in his arms. “Oops! H-Hey, Ronaldo! I’d hug you right now, but I don’t want to squish Emily.”   
  
The little Emerald squeaked happily and reached her arms out toward the fusion. Ronaldo grinned, remembering how when the two first met, Emily had loved being held and cradled by Topaz. She acted as sort of an aunt to her and seemed to be one of the gems his daughter loved the most.   
  
“You wanna hold her while I get this in?” Ronaldo asked, motioning to the carrier on the doorstep.   
  
Topaz nodded gleefully. “I’d love to!”    
  
As the first mate handed his daughter over, she practically leapt into the fusion’s strong arms. Topaz cradled her there, looking down at the tiny gem until a small mew from the carrier alerted her attention to it.   
  
She gasped in excitement. “Is that….!?”   
  
“Oh, yeah! I got the cat.” The first mate winked, holding up the carrier close enough for Topaz to get a look at the crew’s pet. “His name’s Halo-Halo.”   
  
A large smile spreading across her face, the golden gem squealed in delight. “Oh my stars, he’s soooo adorable! I have to touch him now!”   
  
“Then let’s get inside, so I can let him out,” Ronaldo suggested. Once the lighthouse door was shut, he opened the carrier and gently jostled it to urge Halo-Halo out. 

Much like the liquid fur he was, Halo-Halo spilled out of the carrier and onto the wooden floor, making dainty, precarious steps towards Topaz, who looked ready to burst with joy. Sniffing one of the large golden fingers, the cat soon pressed his head and rubbed against it, tail twitching contently.

“Oh stars, I think he loves me, and it’s definitely mutual!” Topaz spoke with an excited whisper.

“I’d say that’s correct.” Ronaldo smiled, playing with Emily as he watched Topaz almost melt into an affectionate puddle over Halo-Halo. Emily was happily gripping onto her father’s hands and suspending herself in the air to swing to and fro, squeaking with delight.

When Halo-Halo got himself comfortable in Topaz’s impossibly gentle hold, purring non-stop, the large gem had settled herself down on one of the pieces of furniture she inherited. “So, how long are you gonna be on Earth?”

“We’re not actually sure yet. We kind of made an emergency decision to come back,” Ronaldo admitted.

“Oh? Is everything okay? Is anyone in danger?”

“In actual emergency senses, no, nobody is in danger,” the pink human assured. “It’s just…I think it’s wearing Lars out.”

“But I thought he loved being a rebellious space pirate!” Topaz worriedly murmured.

“I thought so too, but I guess even that can get kind of old for some people. Maybe he just needs a few days of sleep and sunshine. Even I get burnt out with routine exhilaration…”

“Aww...poor Lars...where is he anyway?”

“His parents asked him to do some errands, and he didn’t want me to be bored.” He gave a tiny smile. “He might catch up with us later.”

“Papa!” Emily cheered.   
  
“Oh.” Topaz appeared confused. “You didn’t go with him?”   
  
Ronaldo frowned. “Well, no. Come to think of it, he kind of acted like he really didn’t want me too.”   
  
“That’s odd,” she observed. “I thought the two of you did everything together.”   
  
The fusion’s words starting to make him uneasy, Ronaldo glanced down for a moment. Should this be something to worry about? At first, Lars never really struck him as the type to keep secrets from his loved ones. On the other hand, after spending more time with him, the first mate did notice that his fiance had a history of hiding things from people he felt weren’t ready to know. Was that what this was? Surely not, for even when he did do that, Lars would always tell him. Especially if it was something serious.   
  
“Hey!” Topaz’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “When Lars is done with...whatever it is he’s doing, maybe we could do some fun human things down here.”   
  
Ronaldo found himself perking up at the idea. “Sounds great! I think everyone here could use a night of destressing, huh, Emily?”   
  
The gemling nodded her head furiously even though it was unlikely that she harbored much stress herself.

“Oh! How about a sleepover?” Topaz beamed. “I’ve always wanted to host one of those!”

“That would be great!” Ronaldo ruffled Emily’s hair cheerfully until she clung to his hand and began to playfully bite his fingers. “I think Lars would like that too.”

Topaz clasped her hands together, looking quite proud. “I’ve watched a lot of human movies about these! We get to paint each others nails and tell stories about boys and pillow fight-”

“Well, I don’t know if those are really accurate, but I’ve thrown my fair share of sleepovers with Lars back in the day. I know what he’s into.” Ronaldo pushed his glasses up on his nose, chuckling. “I’d be honored to help you organize it.”

“Oh! That would be wonderful! Thank you!” the large gem gushed, pulling the human into a bone-crushing hug.

“G-Glad to help,” he croaked breathlessly. 

Soon, his phone chimed. Topaz, hearing it, let go of Ronaldo, and he checked his text messages once he was free. It was from Lars.   
  
_ omw back from errands, stopping at bakery for bread, ill get emily a cookie, do u want anything?  _

The first mate couldn’t help but smile at Lars’ deeds of affection for Emily, and his thoughtfulness to treat him.

_ No thanks but I love youuuu!! <3 <3 <3  I’m at the lighthouse now if you want to meet us there! _

Another response in less than a minute.

_ Ok! Ilu too <3 <3 <3 _

Ronaldo pocketed his phone with a tiny smile. Well, that was promising. If anything was wrong, Lars certainly wouldn’t be in a good enough mood to send him little hearts in his text messages or buy sweets for him from the bakery. It would be enough to ease his worries until he could talk to his fiance one-on-one again.

“Lars is on his way,” he informed Topaz. “In the meantime, I can teach you about actual sleepovers.”

“Okay!” She clapped her hands together very quietly with excitement. “So, when do we paint each other’s nails?”

“About that...I don’t even have nail polish.”

“Awwww...would Lars?”

“...You know what? He went through that goth phase in sixth grade!  _ He might actually still have some.. _ .”

 

_ We love our lovin' _

_ But not like we love our freedom _


	35. Everybody's Talking

_ Everybody's talking at me _

_ I don't hear a word they're saying _

_ Only the echoes of my mind _

 

“-And that’s why all films from 1975 to 1995 are ideal slumber party films for the closest relatable demographic to you,” Ronaldo concluded after a forty minute coverall of the science of sleepovers, whilst helping Topaz pull stuff out of the basement that would be ideal for the event.

“But what kind of movie?? I don’t know if I want them to be happy, sad, or scared from what we watch!”, she fretted as she came up the stairs with a stack of boxes containing old musty pillows and sleeping bags from Ronaldo’s childhood.

“Well...you can show them all my selection of movies,” he pointed to the box he was carrying, “And everyone can vote on a movie!”, he suggested, “Oh! I better text Lars and tell him we need movie snacks-”

Right before he could turn on his phone, the lighthouse door opened, and Lars stepped inside carrying a plastic bag from the bakery, “Ronnie?”

“Oh! Hi Lars!”, he chirped happily, pocketing his phone as he greeted his fiancee with a kiss on the cheek, “Did you get all those errands done?”

“Yup,” Lars smiled, “Dropped off the gardening tools at my folks’ then came here.”

“Papa!!”, Emily suddenly chirped from inside the worn out pillow she’d chewed a hole in to enter, and popped out, a trail of feathers following as she scampered on all fours to her father’s leg.

“Hey, Kiwi!”, he laughed as he used the nickname he coined on account of her being green and fuzzy, “You’ve got feathers in your hair!...” he looked to Ronaldo with slight confusion, “Why’s she got feathers in her hair?”

“Oh! Well…”, Ronaldo rubbed the back of his head, “Topaz wanted to throw a slumber party for us and the crew, and I’m helping her bring up all the stuff we used to have for sleepovers as kids up from the basement….would you be interested in joining?”

“Uh, heck yes,” Lars grinned, putting the bag from the bakery down on the couch, unphased as Emily crawled in to chew on the plastic handles, “Should we call for the crew?”   
  
“Yeah!” The smile that was plastered on the first mate’s face soon fell with confusion after he spoke. “Wait, how are we gonna do that?”   
  
“Huh?”    
  
“Do any of them have phones?”   
  
“Oh….” Lars placed a hand to his chin in thought. “Well, I did give the Rutiles my old phone, but they dropped it in a fountain to see if it would float the day after, soooo….no.”   
  
“Darn.” Ronaldo gave Emily a pat on the head and began walking toward the door of the lighthouse. “I’ll go round them up! Do you think at least one of them’s on the ship?”   
  
“Definitely,” the captain reassured him.   
  
“Alright! I’ll go grab the crew so we can get this party started then!” He turned the doorknob and stepped out of the lighthouse. “Don’t have too much fun without me,” he laughed before walking away, closing the door behind him.   
  
Once Ronaldo had gone, Lars immediately turned his attention to Topaz. “So what’s up with you?”   
  
The fusion seemed surprised that he was speaking to her and smiled very nervously as she replied. “Oh, nothing. Just doing….Earth stuff.” She giggled. “And you?”   
  
“The same,” Lars answered, grinning.   
  
“How’s your trip so far?”   
  
“Alright, I suppose.” The captain leaned back, taking up a more relaxed posture as he conversed with Topaz. “Everything’s where it always is.”   
  
Suddenly, Topaz’s tone changed to something more serious. “Are you, um….doing alright?”

Lars opened his eyes to glance at the gem in confusion, “Er...yeah? Why?”

“Uh…,” she tried to think of a good answer, not wanting to make this awkward, but nervously laughed and brushed it off, “N-no reason!”, she stuttered, “I just kinda know space can be stressful and stuff, right?”

“Oh. Yeah,” he cracked a small grin, “But nothing Captain Lars here can’t handle,” he thumbed his own chest with boast, “I’ve stolen more ships than there is to count...escaped more prison cells...I thrive on adventure,” he winked.

“O-oh! Good!”, she grinned, relief washing over her. Such an answer sounded so genuine to her, she felt no reason to worry over Lars at all. Wouldn’t Ronaldo be so pleased?

The conversation quickly moved on to other things, with the two casually chattering whilst tidying up loose ends, looking through the videotapes Ronaldo brought up, and keeping Emily entertained before she could tear apart any of the tapes and play in the crumpled film rolls.

Ronaldo soon entered the lighthouse again, carrying grocery bags full of snacks, in the middle of whispering something to the Off Colors about not telling Lars about some ‘mall incident’. Lars wouldn’t ask, deciding instead to greet them all with a grin, “S’up?”, he waved, “Ready for the best sleepover ever??”

“What makes it the best?”, Rhodonite asked as she timidly picked up a pillow to examine it.

“Uh, because Topaz here is throwing it,” he grinned, elbowing the large gem playfully, making her blush.   
  
“Oh.” A similar blush spread across the fusion’s face. “Can’t argue with that.”   
  
“Well, I can!” Yellow huffed from nearby. “I was just about to try playing that Earth game you gave us.”   
  
“Really!?” Ronaldo’s eyes lit up with excitement as he turned to face the Zircon. “That’s awesome! How are you liking Lonely Blade?”   
  
“It’s frustrating!” Blue squawked. “I think it might be stuck.”   
  
“Huh?” The first mate frowned. “Which mission are you on?”   
  
“The first one. I think.”    
  
“But it’s just an infinite loop no matter what we try!” Yellow rolled her eyes. “I keep pressing A to jump and the arrow keys to move like you told us to do when we played together, but the guy won’t stop falling in the volcano!”   
  
“It’s frustrating!” Blue groaned.   
  
“Wait….volcano? Are y-” Ronaldo suddenly sighed. “Actually, wait. That’s the loading screen. You have to press resume to actually continue the game.”   
  
“I thought you said that would wipe out the current game’s memory?” Yellow asked.   
  
“No, that’s new game! You have to….ugh, never mind. I’ll just come over tomorrow. For now, we can focus on playing another game!”   
  
“Ooh, game! I love games,” Topaz’s cheery voice piped up. “What do you have in mind?”   
  
Ronaldo furrowed his brow in thought. “Hmmmmm….I don’t know. Lars?” He looked to his fiance, who was cradling Emily in his arms. “Got any ideas for games?”

Lars looked around, almost in thought for ideas, and came across the pillow Emily had mauled, and gave a sly grin. Putting his daughter down on the couch, he grabbed an unscathed pillow on the end of the sofa, and swung it right at Ronaldo’s target sized head. A muffled noise of surprise exited the other’s mouth and he looked at Lars in bewilderment.

“Pillow fight,” Lars grinned wickedly, arming himself with two pillows and raising them up to start attacking.

Ronaldo immediately began to spar against his fiancee with another pillow, whilst their gem companions watched in confusion and slight discomfort.

The two humans paused to look at them, and Ronaldo grinned, “You heard your captain! Pillow fight! Arm yourself and it’s every gem for herself!"  
  
One by one, it seemed the gems understood the point of the game, and began to grab pillows to swing at each other playfully. Lars immediately began to lay down ground rules- No fists or feet for weapons, and Emily was off limits. Other than that it was  _ war _ .  

Rhodonite spent most of the time trying to shield herself from getting walloped by the Rutiles’ dual arsenal on her, but once she realized she had more arms than them, she took advantage of it, and immediately became more of a challenge. Padparadscha was late in joining, continually stopping Lars to ask what to do next. He had no choice but to demonstrate by gently smacking her with a pillow atop the head and told her to take example. Fluorite had opted to sit out, instead watching after Emily, but couldn’t help but smack Ronaldo on the rump with an errant pillow when he rushed past her. The Zircons formed a truce and stood back to back, trying to ward off Lars and the Rutiles as they closed in to attack, and an all-out brawl of dust and feathers ensued.

Topaz stood to the side, holding a pillow and awkwardly looking down at it. She’d never done something like this before, and she was almost shy to try it. Everyone seemed to have some sort of strategy, and she wasn’t sure how to tell if someone was  _ winning _ . Lars and Ronaldo both encouraged her to join in, and a smile burst on her face. Well...she did have one strategy that always seemed to work.

Unfusing, her two counterparts smiled excitably at each other, and each grabbed a pillow. Sneaking around the brawl, they both began to close in on whoever was nearest to them. Lars had stepped backward to grab for another pillow, not noticing Topaz’s presence, and was immediately incapacitated by a playful bearhug.   
  
At first, the captain, though slightly caught off-guard, laughed playfully at the two gems hugging him tight. However, his expression began to change as he noticed the flash of light and felt the familiar smothering feeling entrapping his body until he lost control of his limbs. For the first few seconds, he found himself flailing, but eventually, his mind became too clouded with panic to even do that.    
  
Once the fusion had completely surrounded him, playful laughter erupted from everyone, including Topaz herself. Somehow, that only made the static in Lars’ mind worse. He wanted to laugh back, to show everyone that he was okay. But the memories flooding his mind right now proved to be a breaking point that he should have known he’d reach soon.    
  
He couldn’t stop thinking about the first time it happened, right after he’d run from the potluck with the cool kids and Sadie. At the time, Lars’ mind was so full of stressful thoughts and his eyes were so wash over with impending tears that he didn’t realize someone was after him until it was too late. Even then, he didn’t really fight it. The whole fiasco almost felt deserved to him then, but as the days went on, and he had to watch people he knew, as well as his best friend, suffer the same fate, things began to feel more wrong. More crowded. More suffocating.    
  
It wasn’t like that now. Everything was okay. He didn’t have to feel restrained or on edge or suffocated by anything. Everything was supposed to be okay. He had friends who loved him, parents who supported him, a career of sorts, an adorable cat, a loving fiance, a wonderful daughter. And right now, he was supposed to be relaxing. He should’ve been fine with this. It was just for fun.    
  
But why didn’t it feel like fun?   
  
“Wait….Lars?”   
  
Ronaldo’s voice brought him back to reality but wasn’t enough to stop the meltdown boiling inside of him from reaching its peak.

Lars began to choke out what sounded like sobs as he wriggled to get free, “Let me go!!!”, he cried, “LET ME GO!!”

When Topaz hesitated out of pure confusion, Ronaldo snapped, “Let him go, damn it!!!!”

Spooked at the sudden shouting in her direction, Topaz split apart, both halves looking positively mortified as Lars was hyperventilating, hands and knees on the floor, and trembling terribly.

“Wh-what’s wrong??”, one of the halves asked.

“Captain Lars?”, Rhodonite spoke up worriedly.

Lars swallowed hard for breath as his heart raced faster than it should have been, his eyes flowing over with tears, and he tried to control himself. Another sob choked out as he tried to speak, and say he was alright, that he was fine, even if it was a lie. He wasn’t alright, and he wasn’t fine.   


“Lars?”, Ronaldo called to him softly, trying to kneel down to his level, not daring to touch him as he trembled and cried, “D-do you need to go outside and get some air? Do you want me to come with you?”

“N-nuh-no!”, the other choked, nails digging into the floor, “Everyone just leave me alone!!”, he cried, still struggling to breathe.

“O-okay,” Ronaldo mumbled, “Ok, we’ll just give you some space to breathe and calm down, yeah?”

Lars was still trying to breathe normally, putting his hands to his eyes to scrub at them furiously. At that point, Ronaldo had to intervene to stop Lars from indirectly hurting himself, and began murmuring soft comforting words to him to try and calm him down. 

Topaz, having fused herself again, stepped forward, “I-is everything-”

Ronaldo quickly told her to step back, for everyone to step back and just let Lars be. Emily clutched worriedly at a pillow as she sat by Fluorite, wondering why her Papa had stopped playing and why he was so upset. 

After several tense minutes, Lars managed to regain control of his breath to a shaky stability, and stood up on wobbly legs. Eyes swollen, he sniffled a quiet declaration that he needed some air, and wandered towards the door to go outside, shutting it behind him.

“...I...I didn’t mean to-”, Topaz began, clutching at herself, tears of guilt welling up in her eyes, “I didn’t know he’d-”

“I know. I didn’t either,” Ronaldo suddenly mumbled.   
  
“P-Papa….?” Emily’s quiet squeak piped up from the corner of the room where she sat, Fluorite comfortingly patting her on the back.    
  
Ronaldo sighed and made his way over to her, gently  picking her up and cradling the small gem in his arms. She looked up at him with wide, worried eyes. “Papa doesn’t feel good right now,” he informed her.   
  
The Emerald’s features seemed to wilt at the news, and she turned her head in the direction that her dad had gone, clutching onto Ronaldo’s fingers as she did so.    
  
A gentle tap to the shoulder alerted the first mate that someone was trying to get his attention, and he flipped around to find Rhodonite, both sets of her hands nervously clutched together. “Do you know what that was about….?”   
  
“Yeah,” he sighed, glancing over to Topaz. She was nervously standing in a corner by herself, eyes focused on the floor. Heaving a deep breath and still holding his daughter, Ronaldo made his way over to her. When she noticed that he was coming over, her head turned upward to look at him for a few seconds but soon dropped again. The sight made the first mate’s heart hurt.   
  
“Look, Topaz,” he began once he knew she was listening, “I know you probably feel really bad, but there’s no way you could’ve known-”   
  
“I should have,” she cut him off, her voice stoic and emotionless. “I knew how much I hurt him. It just didn’t really occur to me, I guess. I just got….really carried away, but….” Her voice trailed away, as if she was afraid to go on.   
  
“But….what?”   
  
“Ugh, I shouldn’t have hurt Lars in the first place!” the fusion blurted out, tears appearing in the corner of her eyes. “It’s….it’s my fault he even ended up in space….”   
  
“Oh, Topaz….” Ronaldo shared a sympathetic glance with Emily, both obviously feeling upset for their friend even if one of them didn’t exactly understand what was going on. “It’s okay. That’s in the past now.”   
  
“I know, but I still hurt him. And a lot of other humans who weren’t doing anything wrong.” The tears now making their way down her cheeks. “I can’t exactly undo some of the things I did when I worked for Homeworld no matter how badly I want to.”

Ronaldo awkwardly reached for an errant pillowcase to hand to her, and she used it as a tissue as he tried to think of what to say, “Well...sometimes all you can really do is not focus on the past, and try to move forward….”

“I’m trying,” she mumbled, “I really am.”

_ You’re not the only one, _ Ronaldo thought with a bit of bemusement in regards to himself, and most definitely Lars as well.

“I just don’t want Lars to be scared of me because I-”

“Woah, hey, no he’s not gonna do that. I know Lars, and I know that he knew you didn’t mean for this to happen,” he sighed, sucking in his cheeks, “If anything, he’s gonna probably feel bad about upsetting you.”

“O-oh no, he really doesn’t have to worry about that!”, Topaz gulped into the pillowcase, “I just want to know he’s-”

“Oh my god, you two are exactly alike with this,” Ronaldo couldn’t help but laugh into his hand a little, “You’re both going to be apologetic disasters all night long about it.”

“Wh-where did he go anyway?”, she asked worriedly.

“I don’t know,” Ronaldo sighed, “He might just be outside, or he might have taken a beach walk-”

Before Ronaldo could suggest any further possibilities, the door opened, and Lars meekly stepped in. His eyes were still a little swollen, but he seemed much calmer, and he gave an apologetic look to everyone, “....I’m fine,” he spoke up quietly.   
  
Expression softening a bit at the sight of his fiance’s return, the first mate mustered a small grin as Lars walked over to join him. “You sure, babe?” he asked once the other was closer.    
  
“Yeah.” Lars gently squeezed his shoulder, flashing him a smile. “I’m good.”   
  
Although he wanted to believe the captain was telling the truth, Ronaldo couldn’t shake a creeping feeling of concern. “You wanna talk about anything?”   
  
“Nah.” Lars snorted a laugh. “I just wanna get back to partying if that’s okay with you.”   
  
“It’s fine with me!” Rhodonite piped up from the distance, sounding desperate to make her captain feel better. She quickly grabbed for a pillow and hovered it over Yellow Star’s head.    
  
“Watch out, Yellow!” Blue screeched, pulling her out of the way. This resulted in her to be hit instead. “Ahh! You’ll pay for that one!”   
  
As the Off Colors slowly began to continue the game, Topaz stood by herself, staring at the ground. Lars frowned and patted Ronaldo on the back before making his way toward her.

“Hey,” he piped up, trying to get her attention, “You ok?”

“I-I’m fine,” she swallowed, “A-are you ok? Y-you-”

“I know,” he sighed, “I’m fine. I feel better.”

“I’m so sorry!”, she suddenly blurted, starting to ramble as tears welled up in her eyes, “I didn’t mean to upset you or anything, I shouldn’t have done that, I just was playing and-”

“Hey, hey, slow down,” Lars held his hands up, “It’s ok. It really is ok. This wasn’t your fault, alright? You had no way of knowing that would have happened...I guess I really didn’t either,” he rubbed at his cheek, staring at the floor with deep thought for a moment, “I...just have a lot of baggage and stuff I guess I have to get through. I guess getting stuck in you just sort of brought back memories to stuff that...I really don’t like thinking about, y’know?”

“I-I won’t hug you anymore in case y-”

“Wha? Heck no, I am always down for one of your signature spine snapping hugs!”, he suddenly grinned, holding his arms out, “Just no fusion involved”

“O-okay!”, she suddenly giggled, pulling him into a tight hug which he eagerly returned, “Still friends?”

“Of course!”, he assured, bonking his head right against her chest playfully, and when she let go, he grinned with sudden deviousness, “On the condition that we team up for this pillow war right now, and kick everyone’s collective butt.”

“H-How do we do that?”

About a minute later, Lars shrieked in triumph as he rode on Topaz’s shoulders, swinging pillows in both arms, and she had herself armed with her own pillow arsenal.

“BEG FOR MERCY, FLATFOOTS!!”, Lars cackled maniacally as he creamed Ronaldo in the face with a well aimed pillow, and Blue Moon in the shoulder, making her yelp in surprise.

The unpleasant memories would still linger in his mind during the night, but it didn't stop him from having a good time.

 

_ People stopping, staring _

_ I can't see their faces _

_ Only the shadows of their eyes _ __  
  
  
  
  



	36. Desperado

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: this chapter has mentions and discussion of PTSD and suicidal thoughts and mentions of attempted suicide. Please read with caution if this content is triggering for you.

_ Desperado, why don't you come to your senses? _

_ Come down from your fences, open the gate _

The soft hum of the tape deck made beautiful background noise for the relaxing moment between Lars and Ronaldo. It had been about a month since they’d blasted off into space once more, and things seemed to be going a lot better for both of them. Lars had generally been in a much better mood than he was in before and during their stay, and his nightmares seemed to have decreased. Every smile on his face made his fiance just a little more content with things, such as the one he was wearing right now.

  
The two had recently found themselves sneaking off to their shared headquarters while Emily was especially occupied with the other crew members. Lars said it helped calm him, and Ronaldo couldn’t argue against spending time with his beloved.    
  
Fluorite had been telling Emily a story in the engine room a few hours ago when the captain had requested they spend some alone time together. While sometimes they took advantage of the time to take quick naps or partake in other activities, right now, they were just happy to be cuddled up in bed together. Ronaldo had his arm securely wrapped around Lars, who was pressed snuggly up against his side, wearing a warm smile as the two of them watched the stars pass outside their window.   
  
The first mate brought a finger up to run through his fiance’s pink curls, sighing peacefully. “Doesn’t get any better than this, huh?” he laughed gently, pressing up closer against Ronaldo.   
  
“You mean relaxing in space with the love of my life without my dad badgering me about getting back to work? Of course not. This is the dream.” A small chuckle left Ronaldo’s throat, and he leaned over to give Lars a kiss on the back of his neck, causing the other to blush profusely.    
  
“Ah, I’m so glad we’re here,” the captain replied.   
  
“In space again?”   
  
“Well, yeah, but just….here. Y’know? Together.” Lars positioned himself so he could look into Ronaldo’s gentle eyes, grinning at him.    
  
“Oh!” Blush spread across the first mate’s face when what Lars was saying to him clicked in. “Yeah. I’m happy about that too.”   
  
“Good.” A soft breath left the captain’s throat. “We should probably start talking about wedding stuff soon.”   
  
“Yeah,” Ronaldo laughed nervously. “We should.”   
  
“I know we kinda got sidetracked with….all that stuff….” Lars eyes darted away upon bringing the touchy subject up, but he quickly regained his previous calmness. “But I think I’m good now! Anyway, is there anything you have in mind? Locations? People you want to invite? Attire? You know I’m no good at picking out fancy clothes.”

“Oh, I’ve got ideas,” Ronaldo winked, “Shall I regale you with any of them?”

“Oh, please do,” Lars grinned, leaning back into his lover’s chest, batting his eyelids flirtatiously.

Before the first mate could start, the Rutile twins knocked on the door.

“Captain? We’re about to stop for fuel! Can you accompany us?”

“Oh! Yeah!”, Lars called out, sitting up with an apologetic look to Ronaldo, “I’ll be back in a bit. Try not to miss me too much, okay?”, he teased.

“Well, that’s gonna be hard!”, Ronaldo teased back, pulling Lars back down to give him a quick kiss on the nose, “Stay safe, alright?”

“Of course. Love ya, Ronnie,” Lars cooed. He gave his fiance a wink and sauntered out of their room, joining the Rutiles to head out to fetch fuel. 

“I love you, too,” Ronaldo sighed as he sat up on the bed. He drummed his fingers along his jaw, wondering what to do in the meantime. They’d honestly had such a lull in space activity over the last few days, and it didn’t seem like that would be changing. 

After a few minutes, the idea popped in his head to surprise Lars with something for when he came back inside their room. And he couldn’t help but giggle when he imagined filling their room with flower petals and candles and romantic music. He had plenty of time to put it together so long as he got right to it.

Determined to pull through on this, Ronaldo hopped off the bed, and began rummaging through all of his belongings to see where he put his nifty assortment of scented candles and other items for the location. After finding his own arsenal of romantic goods, he took a quick glance over at Lars’ own closet and drawers, knowing very well his fiance had more than enough paraphernalia of the sort.

Figuring it would be a quick find, Ronaldo began pulling open drawers. The first was just clothes. The second, tape cassettes and gauges lazily thrown together. The third, well, it took Ronaldo a second to realize the tiny cylinders rolling on the bottom of the drawer were certainly not candles.

_ Since when did Lars have so many medicine bottles?  _

Not initially worrying, Ronaldo reached in to kindly put them back in an upright position, but then couldn’t help but read one of the labels. He only managed to recognize the name after having nearly memorized all medication commercials that played on loop at 3 AM back on Earth, and as he recalled, it was an antidepressant.

He picked up another bottle. For anxiety.

Then another. For sleep.

A fourth and fifth bottle were for all three. A sixth, he had no idea what it was for. 

A seventh bottle was just the everyday multivitamins Martha had insisted Lars take with him, but Ronaldo hardly paid much attention to it as he saw the stack of papers and folders and the little pocket booklet neatly nestled in the drawer.

A card from Beach City Medical Group was stapled to the topmost document, and Ronaldo began to skim for the words that were boldest and easiest to read.

_ Patient- Laramie Antonio Barriga _

_ D/O/B- ---- _

_ Diagnosis: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder _

_ Clinic of Visitation: Therapy and Psychiatric Services _

A lump caught in Ronaldo’s throat, and it tightened his windpipe like a drawstring bag that was yanked too hard as he saw the medications listed on the same page.

Why hadn’t Lars told him about any of this? Why hadn’t he told him about having PTSD? They told each other everything. He didn’t remember Lars saying anything about going to a therapist on Earth. 

The second document seemed to be a long list of notes by the therapist that were photocopied, with their messy cursive handwriting almost unreadable except in spots that almost seemed to convenient for Ronaldo to read.

‘ _ Patient has recurring nightmares and flashbacks to traumatic events. Patient has experienced loss of appetite and disorientation that includes hallucinations and mood swings. _ ’

Ronaldo froze.

‘ _ Suicidal thoughts _ ’

Swallowing hard, Ronaldo placed the papers back in the drawer, and took notice of the tiny hardcover pocketbook again, seeing Lars’ identifiable handwriting on the cover.  ‘Therapy Journal’

He wanted to slam the drawer shut, and pretend he didn’t see any of this. Or hope that this was maybe just skeletons in Lars’ very deep closet that weren’t even relevant anymore. But instead, with shaking hands, he opened the book, and began to read the page it opened to.

‘ _ I had another really bad nightmare again last night, the third in two weeks. I’m afraid of going to sleep again, because I know it will happen again. I couldn’t sleep at all after this, and when I tried to sleep again, my daughter woke me up. I accidentally scared her and I feel awful _ .’

Ronaldo remembered that horrible night, where he saw Lars fitfully thrashing and sobbing unconsciously in their bed, and he lay with him all night in silent prayer that he would finally rest. He’d worried constantly about him after that, and even when he couldn’t stay awake to watch over him, he at least hoped Lars was getting a good night’s sleep.

The next entry was listed three days later, another documentation of a nightmare, and Lars being unable to function that day, mentioning snapping at a crewmate, and almost punching a wall.

The entry after it was short, but it made Ronaldo worry for what was to follow it.

‘ _ I really wish I could just sleep and not have to wake up. _ ’

Ronaldo was fairly good at remembering dates, even for the most minimal things, and suddenly, he was growing very worried about one that he couldn’t help but remember. And much to his terror, but not surprise, a date was listed there.

_ ‘I swallowed my whole bottle of sleeping pills this morning, but I threw it up less than fifteen minutes later. I couldn’t sleep at all last night, the pills don’t work, they don’t work even when I take enough to probably kill myself.’ _

Ronaldo’s eyes grew hot and blurry.

_ ‘I don’t even think I can kill myself now.’ _ __   
__   
The door of their room suddenly swung open, and Lars poked his head through the doorframe, a docile grin on his face. “Hey, babe, have you seen my bomber jacket around here? This planet’s cold as balls.”    
  
A small chuckle left his throat, and his eyes wandered to where his fiance stood. However, Ronaldo wasn’t moving. He didn’t even look at him or nod his head. Screwing up his face in confusion, the captain took a few more steps into their quarters. “Ronnie? Did you see another, um, “ space ghost?” That’s like the third one this week!”   
  
“Why didn’t you tell me?”   
  
The first mate’s words were barely audible, and he didn’t move a muscle as he spoke. A feeling of dread was starting to creep up on Lars. “Uh….tell you what?”   
  
Ronaldo still wasn’t moving, but Lars could see him clenching one of his fists upon hearing the words, and it made the captain even more anxious. “You know what I mean.”   
  
“I, uh….really don’t….” Lars gulped. “Should I?”   
  
“Should you?” The other pink human finally whipped his head around. His eyes were narrowed, and it was very clear that he’d been crying. “ __ Should you?”   
  
“Uh….” That was when the captain’s eyes wandered to the object in Ronaldo’s other hand. The sight of what he held almost made Lars’ slow-beating heart come to a full-on stop. A flood of emotions, mostly fear and a big of anger, suddenly hit him like a gust of intense wind. “W-Wait….what the fuck; were you going through my stuff!?”   
  
“Well, how else am I gonna find out that you’re trying to kill yourself?” Ronaldo spat back, turning around to face Lars with the journal still in his hand.  
  
“Kill mysel- Ronnie, that’s my therapy journal! I’ve been writing in it ever since I started therapy.”

“And how come you didn’t ever tell me about it?? After all our time back on Earth?? Were you just trying to  _ hide _ it from me?”

“N-No, it’s just-”

“And even if it was just writing, you went and tried to kill yourself with pills?! How could you go and do something like that?!”, Ronaldo’s voice was cracking again as he was on the verge of tears.

“I wasn’t trying to do that! I-” Lars’ voice caught in his throat as he ran a hand through his hair, “I was just trying to _get some_ _fucking sleep…._ ”

“So what’s all that writing about suicidal thoughts both from you and your therapist?? Why didn’t you ever tell me about any of this??”, Ronaldo felt his eyes overflow in frustration and hurt.

“I-I just didn’t want you to worry about me, okay?! I know how this sort of stuff can-”  
  
"So was I just supposed to stay oblivious to what was wrong with you until you finally decided you’d had enough of staying alive forever, and just die on me? And on your daughter??? Was that your plan?!”

“No!”, Lars finally spat, “I was going to get better! I’ve been getting better! I’ve been-”

“You wrote you were ready to tear yourself apart three days ago!”

Lars took a deep breath of frustration, and blinked away his own tears, “Alright, I just won’t write anything or say anything about how I feel ever again!  _ This _ was why I didn’t tell you! I  _ knew _ you’d be like this!”

“What? Worried about my fiance talking about killing himself?! Oh how  _ terrible _ of me. I’m  _ so _ sorry for worrying about you.”   


“Don’t! Don’t do that!!”, Lars suddenly cried, pointing an accusing finger, “You just turn it around to make it about you and how upset it’s making you, and I have to pick up the pieces to-”

“I’m upset because you want to kill yourself!!”

“No I don’t!!”, Lars cried, “I don’t ever want to do that, okay?!”

“So what’s all the writing for? Poetry?!”

“No! It’s to make me feel better?!”

“So writing about how you want to die makes you feel better?! Swallowing enough pills to kill an elephant makes you feel better?! What would have happened if you hadn’t thrown up all those pills, and I was left alone with your crew?! What was I supposed to do?!”

“I can’t die! Neither of us can!”

“And how do you know that for sure?!”

“I just do!!!”, Lars screamed.

“You know what?! Just- do whatever you fucking want, I don’t care! If you want to make yourself sick and not tell me anything about it, just go ahead and do it. I just won’t do anything anymore if that’s what you really want!”, Ronaldo shouted back.

Lars glared into Ronaldo’s equally furious stare, “Y’know what? I don’t know why I even expected anything good from someone who said I wasn’t worth saving.  _ You _ wanted me dead before anyone else. You just remember that.”   


Ronaldo’s expression dropped in shock and hurt at Lars’ strong words for only a second, then immediately turned cold.

“Alright. I will.”

Without another word, he stepped past Lars and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Lars stood in place for several seconds, realizing just exactly what he’d said to his fiancee, the man who he loved more than anything else in the galaxy. And he knew that no amount of apology would make that be forgotten. Not with how he said it.

Sitting on the bed in shock, Lars suddenly put his hands to his face as his expression crumpled and he began to sob, horrified and hurt by both what he’d heard, and what he’d said.

The rest of the crew had huddled in the lower quarters of the ship, mortified by the loud screaming match between their superiors, and the sudden silence of the ship was no relief as they suddenly heard the heartbreaking sobs echoing through the vents. Something bad had happened, and they didn’t know what. And they weren’t going to ask.

Fluorite stiffly cradled a sleeping Emily as she tried to tell all of her components that this would all be alright soon, that Lars and Ronaldo would make up within minutes or hours, and they’d be alright. But she really didn’t know.

* * *

The captain sat in his chair for what seemed like hours, staring into space and thinking about what was said. Part of him was still furious with Ronaldo. He never expected him to invade his privacy, especially since they’d discussed their boundaries with one another in detail. Some of the things his fiance had said to him also still left a bitter taste in his mouth. Why was he always so concerned with how he felt? Didn’t he realize Lars had feelings too?   
  
But then his mind wandered back to the last thing he’d said, and he felt his stomach sink. He didn’t even know why the situation at the lighthouse so many years ago popped into his mind. The last time it had even come up in one of their conversations was on the island, when Ronaldo was desperately trying to make up for how much he’d hurt him. While it was hard for him to forget that it happened, he’d never seen someone put so much effort into apologizing to him. Ronaldo felt so bad for hurting him and truly loved him. If he really wanted him dead, why would he be flipping out over the suicide attempt?   
  
Actually, why did Lars even try that? Sure, the first thing on his mind was getting sleep, and in the back of his head, he knew nothing would come of it, but what if something did? What if he did die? What would happen to Ronaldo then? To the crew? To his friends back on Earth? To Emily?   
  
_ Damn, I really did screw up… _   
  
Sighing, Lars got to his feet. He smoothed his hair back and took a deep breath. There was no way he could keep on feeling like this. He had to apologize to Ronaldo.    
  
The crew certainly eyed him as he made his way back to their shared quarters, but none of them said a word. Not even Padparadscha, but he knew she would probably pipe up a minute or two after he was secure in his room. He sucked in another gust of air before opening the door to his room, finding Ronaldo curled up on their bed in the opposite direction. His heart wrenched upon seeing his fiance like this.   
  
“R-Ronnie….?” he spoke up in a gentle whisper, nervously wringing his hands as he shut the door and walked over to sit beside the other.    
  
Lars peered over him, making sure his fiance wasn’t asleep. The first mate’s eyes were open, and it was clear that he’d been crying even more. His mouth was settled on a hurt frown, and although he definitely noticed his presence, his eyes didn’t move from the sheets below him. This made the captain bite into his lip as anxiety flooded through his veins.   
  
“Ronnie….I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” Lars nervously reached out a hand to touch Ronaldo’s shoulder. “Can we just forget the whole thing and get some sl-”   
  
In a motion so quick that it almost escaped his eyes, Ronaldo reached a hand up to bat the captain’s away. Lars recoiled in shock, holding the hand that almost touched him. He tried his best to keep his cool, although everything inside him wanted to lose it and turn into a bawling mess right then and there.   
  
“Oh….okay. I get it if you’re not ready to talk. Well….I’m getting tired, so I’ll just….” The captain winced as he awkwardly climbed into their shared bed, settling down in the other direction, back only scraping against the other pink boy. “Y-Yeah. Are you sure you don’t want to talk?”   
  
He was met with silence.   
  
“A-Alright….I love you.”   
  
Still not a word.   
  
Lars tried his hardest to get to sleep. He was tired. He was exhausted. But every time he got even slightly close to drifting off, the thoughts of what happened came to him, and all he could do was stare at the door and try not to have a breakdown.    
  
Ronaldo had never ignored him like this. After a few hours, he was always ready to talk and hug it out, and then they’d go to bed tangled up in each other’s arms. But that wasn’t happening this time. His fiance was ignoring him. Ronaldo Fryman, the person who could talk anyone’s ear off about the most mundane of things, was giving him the cold shoulder. Again. He must have really hurt him. Again….   
  
Lars was unable to stop the flow of tears from his eyes as he thought about the situation, but he tried to keep his sobs quiet. A few snores from Ronaldo cut him off from a while, signalling that he wasn’t just ignoring him now but had actually fallen asleep. It gave the captain some time to think.   
  
What if things never went back to normal? What if it was like this all the time? What if he actually ruined their relationship?    
  
He couldn’t be there for that.

* * *

After a few hours of sleeping, Ronaldo’s eyes slowly began to blink open. Normally, it took his brain a while to recall what had happened the night before a long rest. However, almost instantly when he woke up, he noticed a strange feeling. A cold and empty feeling surrounded him, as if he was alone. But there was no way that was the case. He could’ve sworn Lars had fallen asleep next to him just like always….   
_   
_ _ Lars! _

Sitting up immediately, Ronaldo saw the other side of the bed was neatly made, and a folded piece of paper sat on the pillow where Lars’ head usually rest. Before he reached for it, he took notice of how weirdly clean and empty Lars’ normally messy nightstand was, and the lack of dirty clothes strewn on the floor. And in spite of how he’d normally complain about that, something about this didn’t feel right to Ronaldo.

Opening the paper, his breath caught in his throat.

_ I’m sorry. Take care of the crew. I love you. _ _   
_

“Lars?!”, Ronaldo suddenly called out, but received no response, and he threw himself out of the bed, already starting to panic. “Lars?!”

“C-Captain Ronaldo!”, the Rutiles suddenly spoke up, “You’re awake!”

“I-I’m not the captain!”, Ronaldo insisted, “Where is Lars?”

“ _ We  don’t  know. He  said to call  you the captain  now. And I believe  he took the little one  down into the loading dock,”  _ Fluorite slurred.

Ronaldo’s stomach tightened into a painful knot at the mention of Emily, and realized he didn’t see her around anywhere. Rushing over to the captain’s chair, he activated the screen to check the status of all ships in the loading dock. Dread settled in as he saw Lars’ prized shuttle was absent from the database.

Fluorite asked him if everything was alright, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he rushed back into his and Lars’ shared room, and prayed he would find something, anything belonging to Lars in there. He ripped open all the drawers, close to tears as he saw they were all empty except for one.

All that sat in that drawer was a single cassette tape. One Lars had mixed himself when they’d just started dating. Labeled in faded sharpie, “For Ronnie.”

It was broken.

 

_ You better let somebody love you _

_ Before it's too late... _

 

  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	37. Hello It's Me

 

_There's something here that doesn't last too long_  
  
_Maybe I shouldn't think of you as mine_

On any normal lazy Sunday, Bismuth found nothing more relaxing than to lounge on the large couch custom created to her size in the temple, soak the sun into her gem to let it shine and sparkle, then let Cat Steven nap on her chest. And then top it off with a leisurely trip to the forge, and maybe soak in some lava. 

She didn’t think it would change much when she heard a meek knock on the door, and opened it, already quick to dismiss whoever was there, “Nobody’s home today, come back when they-”, she froze as she looked down, “Lars??”

Lars stared ahead, not exactly looking into her face as he stood in the doorway. Heavy bags rest under his eyes which were almost as pink as his face, and his hair was unkempt and droopy. Emily was propped in one arm and against his shoulder, sleeping with her thumb stuck in her mouth. 

Bismuth looked past him to see his shuttle haphazardly parked on the beach, then back down at him, “You’re supposed to be in space with your crew! What happened?”

Lars said nothing for several long seconds, then suddenly he broke, and his eyes and nose were both like faucets as he began to wail and blubber incoherently. Bismuth was still rusty in her Lars-is-a-Crying-Wreck-ese, but she was able to make out something about Ronaldo, and a fight, and that everything was horrible now.

“Oh baby,” she immediately began to soothe him, and guided him into the temple to get him to sit and calm down, “I’m sure it’s all gonna be okay. Whatever you guys were fighting over was probably nothing.”

Lars blubbered even more.

“Wh-What do you mean you told him that?!”

More whimpers and sobs.

“You left him!? Are you going to go back?!”

Lars began to cry even harder.

“Oh man! I can’t believe it!”, Bismuth whined in dismay, “You two were my third favorite couple! I made that ring on your finger for you and everything!”

As Lars continued to blubber and sob and melt into a pathetic wreck on the couch, the large gem watched with sympathy, and gently pried Emily out of his arms to put her on Steven’s bed. She’d have to figure out a way to calm him down soon. If his crying got too loud and out of control, there could be an accidental portal, and another ‘8th of July Incident’ (They still had no idea where Kevin or half the trees in Dewey Park ended up.)

“Aww honey,” Bismuth sighed as she sat back down next to Lars, offering him her apron to blow his nose on, “The others will be back soon. I’m sure we can get this all worked out when they do, alright? We’ll both just try to calm you down and relax here.”

Lars whimpered gibberish into the cloth miserably, and Bismuth gently pat his hair, “Yeah, don’t worry, you can grab your stuff from your ship later.”

He blew his nose loudly, and Bismuth made note to clean her apron as soon as possible. 

He mumbled something, and this time she had to ask him to repeat.

“Should I keep the ring?”, he spoke, clearer, but voice remaining weak.

“Of course!”, she assured, rubbing his back, “We’re not gonna let you two fall apart just like that over some argument, okay? You’ll be back in each other’s arms before y’know it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Lars hardly whispered.   
  
Bismuth’s gentle expression soon changed to one of pure shock. “What do you mean you don’t know about that? Lars, Ronaldo’s head over heels for you! I bet if you went back and talked things out with him, he’d welcome you into his life again with open-”   
  
“I don’t think I want to go back,” the captain retorted quietly, nervously wringing his hands together. “I mean, yeah, I honestly do, but….I can’t. Not like this. I’ve caused enough trouble for now.”   
  
The blacksmith couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Sure, she noticed that Lars had the tendency to be a little self-deprecating at times, but abandoning his crew and partner because of what she understood as a fight seemed a little too big of a leap to make even for him.    
  
“So….” she began, taking a deep breath to clear her thoughts, “you’re just gonna leave Ronaldo and the rest of your crew in space to fend for themselves forever?”   
  
Although the way Bismuth put it made him feel even worse about the situation, Lars meekly nodded in response. “Yeah. I guess I am-”   
  
“But why!?” the gem asked frantically, looking to him with a worried frown.   
  
“Because I screwed it all up!” Lars groaned, more tears finding their way to the brink of his eyes. “I screwed everything good in my life up, and now, I’m back where I started. Even after I finally thought I’d got everything control, after dying and coming back to life and meeting the best friends I’ve ever had and being a space captain finding someone I loved and deciding to settle down and raise a family, I’m still so messed up in the head that I don’t even want to l-…..” His words trailed off and he swallowed hard, trying to get a grip on himself, so he didn’t make Bismuth even more upset. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t be everything they want me to be. I miss them, and I don’t want to be alone, but I think I should be.”   
  
Although she still disagreed with Lars’ notions, Bismuth realized that it would be very hard to change his mind right now. Maybe he really did need some time away from everything. Heaving one last deep sigh, she nodded in response, putting her head in one of her hands sullenly.   
  
“I understand,” she spoke. “I hope a break at least does you good.” A thought suddenly crossed her mind. “What about Emily?”   
  
The now-former captain looked over to where his daughter lay, curled up in a ball on Steven’s bed and presumably asleep. “What about her?”   
  
“Does Ronaldo know you took her with you?”    
  
Lars winced. “Uh….no….”   
  
“Lars!” Bismuth gasped in shock. “That’s his daughter too!”   
  
“I know, I know, but space is really no place for her. She’s too young to get caught up in the stuff we do up there. It’s what’s best for her, and he’s got to understand.”   
  
“Hmmmm….I suppose.” The blacksmith looked to the side. “And the crew? What about them?”   
  
“They’ll be fine without me,” Lars replied, sounding sure of himself.   
  
“Without their captain?”   
  
“Ronaldo’s their captain now.”   
  
Bismuth raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Uhhhhh….wouldn’t one of the Rutiles be a wiser choice?”   
  
“Bismuth, Ronaldo’s changed. A lot.” The captain bit into his lip, trying his hardest not to start crying again. “I know he was kind of….scratch that, extremely immature the first time you met him, but he’s come so far. He helped me quite a bit when we worked together.” A small chuckle left his throat. “You wouldn’t believe it, but he’s actually a lot more organized than me. He’s got a pretty good memory. And I don’t know what kind of shows he watches, and honestly, I don’t really care to find out, but every time he comes up with some crazy sounding plan from one of them, it always works flawlessly! Also, he’s so good with the crew. They all love him so much. I mean, who wouldn’t? He’s just so brave and kind and funny and spontaneous and….a-amazing and….thoughtful and…..b-beautiful….aand now, h-he doesn’t love me a-any….mo-”    
  
The last part of what Lars had to say was cut off as he burst into tears, burying his face into his hands and shaking from the force of his sobs. Bismuth put a hand on his back and rubbed it comfortably, eventually allowing him to cry on her shoulder and blow his nose on her apron (although she regretted the latter).    
  
In the middle of the pink human’s breakdown, a flash of light and a mystical whirring noise came from the other side of the room. Both Bismuth and Lars looked toward the warp pad, the source of what had startled them, displayed a flash of light that soon faded away to reveal Garnet. She immediately looked toward where the two of them sat, a concerned expression on her face.   
  
“Garnet?” Bismuth asked as the fusion began to walk toward them. “But I thought you were on a mission with Steven, Pearl and Amethyst?”   
  
“I was,” Garnet responded, “but then I saw this.” 

Lars looked up at her with tears and snot running down his face, “S’there anything in the future that says I can just curl up and hide forever and forget the last several years of my life?”, he croaked pathetically.

“Hm. No,” she answered, sitting in one of the chairs adjacent to the couch, “But I don’t forsee your future being completely hopeless if that helps.”

“Garnet, I really screwed up. I know there’s really no going back from everything that just happened. If I go back now, after literally running away from my crew, all they’re gonna think is that I’m a stupid coward who can’t deal with himself. I’ve gone beyond backwards-”

“Well, eventually your actions will catch up with you.”

“...that’s  _ really _ cryptic, Garnet,” Lars stared at her blankly, “What the hell is that even supposed to mean.”

She pulled Cat Steven off from the floor to plop her in her lap, “I mean, eventually, your crew will return to Earth, Ronaldo included. And inevitably, you will probably see them again.”

“Oh. Great,” Lars groaned.

“You shouldn’t see it as a bad thing. Instead, see it as an opportunity to look into yourself and see what you can do to make things better. I don’t need to look into the future to see that your crew still admires you...and that Ronaldo will forgive you.”  
  
Lars looked at her with an unreadable expression, then back at his lap and sighed, “I don’t know if I’m ready for Ronaldo to forgive me yet.”

“Give yourself some time then.”

“Yeah,” Lars sighed, “But I don’t know how much time I’m gonna need. I don’t want him to come here within a week and we just end up fighting and I end up throwing this ring in his face.”

“Do you foresee yourself doing that?”

“No, but…”, he sighed, “Every time we fight, it feels like one of us says something  _ horrible _ to the other, and we just make things worse,” he mumbled, “And I was...really close to doing that on the ship,” he admitted, “The only thing that stopped me from doing that was that I knew if I did that...I really would lose him.”

Garnet didn’t respond, instead quietly petting Cat Steven.

Lars watched for a minute, then gripped onto himself, “Y’know, that was one of the worst things to happen...when I almost lost him...before I brought him back to life and stuff.”

“Well, if that hadn’t happened, you guys wouldn’t still be together right? Because of the whole aging thing, right?”, Bismuth spoke up.

“No, no,” Lars shook his head, “We…probably still would have been together for a while...we’d have made it work one way or another,” he sighed, rubbing his forehead, “But...it’s not like you guys where if you get hurt or something, you can fix yourselves...I had to watch him  _ die _ . I had to watch him get taken away from me, and I really thought I was never going to get him back,” he whispered.

He looked at Garnet, “And then I keep getting dreams where that happens. Where we’re both next to that pillar, and he’s not back to life. And I just have to... _ leave him there _ ,” he whimpered, “And I have to live the rest of my life without him,” he felt himself tearing up, “And I can’t tell him about that dream, about  _ any _ of my dreams. Dreaming about my crew getting shattered, or getting caught in explosions, or reliving through when _ I _ died. I...feel like I have to. My therapist says I don’t have to if I don’t want to, but...maybe I should have just sucked it up, and told him.”

“What do you think would have happened if you did?”

“I...I don’t know,” Lars shook his head, and gave a weak smile, “I’d like to think he’d hold me and tell me everything was gonna be okay, and none of that stuff would happen to us, and that he’d try to make me laugh…”, the smile faded, “But then I just know those dreams will happen again. And again. And then I think he’ll finally realize how hopeless it is for me to move on from that, and...he’ll realize I really am not worth it, if he hasn’t already,” he choked, screwing his eyes shut as he felt the tears come again.   
  
Right before he broke into another heap of sobs, Lars felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and cracked his eyes open to see Garnet looking down at him, her visor moved down to where all three of her eyes were visible and staring into his. “Lars?”   
  
The former captain blinked away some tears. “Y-Yeah?”   
  
“Do you really think Ronaldo feels that way about you?”   
  
A few tears dripped from Lars’ eyes as he thought about what she said. “I….don’t know. He has plenty of reasons to.”   
  
“But do you think he doesn’t care about you?”   
  
“No!” Lars was quick to shoot back. “If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have….” His words trailed off when the situation hit him at full force. All this had happened because Ronaldo cared about him. If he didn’t, why would he have been so upset at finding out he’d swallowed all those pills? There was no doubt that he loved him.   
  
But somehow, knowing that he’d abandoned the one person who would have stuck it out through anything for him made the feelings of guilt coursing through him worsen. The tears resumed, and he didn’t bother finishing his sentence. Garnet let him cry on her shoulder this time, gently patting his back and doing her best to comfort him.   
  
“Is he, uh….gonna be okay?” Bismuth whispered, getting Garnet’s attention.   
  
The fusion turned to face her friend and smiled as much as she could muster, nodding her head. “Yes.” She then looked back to the former captain. “Lars,” she spoke to him, causing him to glance up at her again, “you can take a break if you need to. It’s obvious that you’re stressed, and being away from the cause of it will do you good.”   
  
Lars wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt and took a deep, shaky breath. “O-Okay. Yeah. I’m not going back.”   
  
Bismuth had a look of shock on her face. “But I thought he just-”   
  
“Shhhhh.” Garnet held up a finger to her and lowered her visor again to give the blacksmith a wink. “Give it time.”   
  
Starting to understand what she meant, the other gem nodded and turned her attention back to Lars. “So do you need a place to crash while you’re here? My forge’s always open.”   
  
“Nah,” he sniffled. “I can sleep at home. I just wanted to see you guys before I told my parents what happened.” His heart ached when he thought about how upset they’d be to see him back in such a miserable condition. Lars was tired of worrying them, but he couldn’t shut them out of his life too.   


Before Garnet or Bismuth could speak up, the screen door was suddenly kicked open, and Martha rushed in, looking frazzled, “I saw a ship on the beachWHAT HAPPENED.”

Lars stared at his mother in shock, and after only a few seconds of terrified silence between the two, he began bawling and blubbering all over again as he retold her the story.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have him tell the story anymore if he keeps doing this,” Bismuth muttered to Garnet as she watched Martha gasp in horror and cradle her poor baby once he finished telling her everything.

“I swear, I will take that ship, and fly right up into space and knock that man straight on his ass,” Martha began, looking hurt and infuriated to see the state her son was in.

“Mrs. Barriga,” Garnet began, leading her away from Lars as she tried to address the situation, “That isn’t a good idea at this time.”

“Well what am I supposed to do?”, Martha whispered harshly, “My son’s been borderline  _ suicidal  _ before, am I supposed to just let him sulk???? Ronaldo needs to get his shit together and-”

“Lars knows what he needs to do,” Garnet interrupted her softly, “I know you’re worried, but he’ll be alright. He just needs time to come to terms with things.”

Martha stared at Garnet, still unconvinced. Sighing, she looked over to Lars, seeing him accept Cat Steven out of Bismuth’s arms to cuddle, looking wearier than he’d ever had in ages, and nodded, “Alright. So what can  _ I _ do?”

“Be there for your son if he needs you, as you always are,” Garnet winked behind her visor, “And maybe tell your husband the story so Lars doesn’t have to. I sense if he keeps breaking down today, he might get hiccups.”

“Alright,” she played with her hair anxiously, and made a quick call to Dante to explain the situation, then sighed, “Lars, sweetie, why don’t I take you home? You can park your ship in the backyard, and I’ll help with your suitcases or anything you need.”

“Ok,” he mumbled, voice tired, emotionlessly threading his fingers through Cat Steven’s fur. 

“Did you bring your own cat with you?”, Bismuth then asked Lars, who shook his head.

“Halo Halo likes being on the ship more. And he likes when Ronaldo gives him treats,” he sighed, “It’s for the best.”  Handing Cat Steven back over to Garnet, he gave a weak smile to both of the gems, “Thanks for putting up with my crying fits all afternoon,” and took Emily as he walked out of the temple, his mother following behind at a distance.

“...Do you really think he’ll be okay?”, Bismuth asked Garnet as they watched him walk down onto the shore.

“It’s hard to tell clearly, but I believe so.”

* * *

Once he navigated his ship into his parents’ backyard, and he had his suitcases inside, Martha insisted Lars rest on the couch, and not move.

“Ma, I’m not physically sick-”

“Shh. Ma knows best here. You need to rest your head, and try to sleep or something. I’ll make you something nice and hot to eat, and you can take a shower after dinner, alright?”

Lars gave an affirming grunt as he lay on the couch, and stared at the ceiling, trying to focus on counting all the tiny bumpy grains on it, and faintly hearing Emily play with a noisy toddler toy on the floor. She still wasn’t aware of the depressing situation, and as far as Lars was concerned, that was for the best.

“I called your dad, and he’ll be bringing home some things from the bakery. He said he’ll see if they have fresh buko pie. I know that’s your favorite,” she rambled, “A slice of pie and coffee can always make things a little better.”

Lars just closed his eyes and listened to her talk and ramble away as she worked in the kitchen. He wanted his mind to drift, but somehow, her chatter made him feel fitful on the couch.  When he smelled the familiar spices that came with homemade pork adobo, he sat up, and stiffly walked into the kitchen.

“Um,” he began, voice tired, and face swollen from dried sadness, “...Can I help? I think that would make me feel better more than just laying on the couch.”

“Are you sure honey?”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “It...at least will distract from how awful everything feels right now.”   


Martha felt her heart break hearing the defeat in her son’s voice, but the plea for some sense of normalcy, and smiled weakly, “Alright. Wash up and work away.”  
  
“Will do.”    
  
Lars was no stranger to cooking something to distract himself from pain. In fact, it was a pretty regular thing for him before he’d gone to space. There was hardly ever a day where he didn’t come home just in time for dinner feeling totally exhausted. Even on his days off, he would find himself making one of his favorite dishes to calm his racing nerves. Normally, it helped a great deal.   
  
But this was different. He couldn’t stop thinking about how he’d just lost everything but Emily, his parents and his Earth friends. No more space. No more ship. No more crew. No more fiance. It almost felt like the weight of what he was going through was choking him more than it ever had. Back when his biggest problem was not fitting in or being mad at Sadie, it always felt like things had to go back to normal eventually, and most of the time, they did. However, he just couldn’t convince himself that he’d ever get his old life as an engaged space captain back no matter how he tried. Hope just wasn’t there at all.   
  
When the pink human finished dinner, he called his parents down to eat. None of them said much as they ate, despite Martha complimenting Lars’ cooking skills and him thanking her for it. Dante seemed to know something was going on. Martha must have told him. If she didn’t, he’d be desperately asking questions, which would have been a bit too much right now.   
  
After dinner, Lars helped his mom wash dishes and immediately made his way back to the couch. He lay down on his back and curled up in the blankets there, half because the air conditioner was making the room colder than usual and half because he just wanted to cover himself as much as he could so his parents didn’t have to look at him right now. Nobody deserved to see him like this, especially not them.   
  
He reached for his phone that was sitting on the coffee table next to the couch. Gulping and trying to ignore the urge to look at old photos of him and Ronaldo, Lars was surprised to find out that he had a text message. Upon unlocking his phone, he realized that it was from Steven.    
  
_ Hey Lars! Garnet told me what happened. Tell me if you need anything  _ _ ♡ _ __   
__   
Lars couldn’t help but smile. It felt nice to know he wasn’t mad at him. Of course, if anyone was going to stick up for him, it would be Steven. He typed a reply, not feeling like a conversation but also not wanting to leave the kid hanging.   
__   
_ i’m good rn but thank you _ __   
__   
In mere seconds, the message had been read and there was a response.   
  
_ Okay! Just making sure! Hang in there :( _ __   
__   
The former captain typed another reply. __   
_   
_ __ will do

After the very brief text conversation with Steven, Lars wondered if he should text Sadie. She’d definitely want to know he was in town for what could be the rest of his life. Maybe they could hang out tomorrow and help him get his mind off stuff. Suddenly set on the idea, he went to his recent conversations to find their text conversation. However, a certain name that he’d texted right before hers showed up and made his heart stop.   
  
♡♡♡ Ronnie ♡♡♡   
  
And right underneath was the last text he’d received from him.   
  
_ I love you too ♡ _ __   
__   
Fighting back tears once again, the pink boy turned off his phone and put it back on the coffee table. He’d call Sadie later. She was probably busy with the band anyway.    
  
Almost instantly after he’d put the phone away, he felt tiny claws digging into his side. Lars winced and jumped at first, but his nerves settled when he saw Emily’s wide-eyed face looking directly at his. His daughter had climbed up onto his lap, where she typically slept, but she didn’t appear to be very tired.   
  
The tiny Emerald appeared to be rather concerned. Perhaps she noticed the tears still welling up in her dad’s eyes, or maybe she’d finally sensed that something was off. “Papa?” she squeaked, nudging his chin with her head.   
  
Lars tried to smile and patted Emily on the back. “Papa’s gonna be okay, Em. He’s just….tired, that’s all.”   
  
She furrowed up her face, obviously sensing that he wasn’t telling the entire truth. Lars sighed.   
  
“Look,” he continued, “I’m really sorry about all of this, but….maybe it’d be best if the two of us lived on Earth for….a while? I mean, you like it here, right?”   
  
“P….P-Papa….” the Emerald whimpered, looking away from her dad.    
  
That she was actually upset hit the former captain like a freight train, and his heart sank. Biting into his lip to stop himself from having a breakdown in front of his already upset daughter, he took a breath to steady himself before resuming.    
  
“Emily….your other papa, he’s uh….not here right now. I don’t know when he’ll be here again. Or if he will. I wish I did, but….it’s just me and you for a while, okay?”   
  
Emily was clearly upset by what he said, curling up in a ball on his chest and staring at the floor with large eyes that were starting to tear up a little. Lars hugged her close to him, trying his hardest to soothe her, her reaction already breaking his heart.    
  
“I’m sorry, Emily,” he whispered, shutting his eyes. “I miss him too….”   
  
The two of them lay on the couch like that for about half an hour before Emily finally dozed off. Lars watched her but couldn’t do the same. His mind was racing much too quickly for him to shut his eyes for a fraction of a second, but it was okay. At least he was used to that.

_   
_ _ It's important to me  _

_ That you know you are free _   
  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  



	38. You're So Vain

_ You're so vain, _

_ I'll bet you think this song is about you _

_ Don't you? _

 

This was probably a good thing. In the context of his situation, this was probably a very good thing. Or at least, it was supposed to be. Being slouched against a barstool wasn’t exactly the poster image of a healing journey. And certainly not next to an ashtray full of cigarettes.

Not...that Lars was the one that was smoking them. He’d just so happened to sit next to another patron who was puffing away while awaiting their order, since this whole bar seemed to be crowded and noisy. But at least the noise and crowds distracted Lars from the thoughts in his own head.

It had been at least two weeks since he’d returned from space, and he’d tried to do his best to make some sort of routine to stick to, to retain a sense of normalcy. But maybe it wasn’t a good idea to incorporate visiting singles mixers every other night, and drown his sorrows in sickeningly sweet melon liquor. 

He’d spent several days sleeping well into the afternoons after long nights out. He didn’t really mingle with anyone, no flirting or flings. Mostly just sitting at the bar and staring at his glass. Nobody bothered him with a ring on his finger, much to his surprise and relief. 

Unfortunately, his new habit of sleeping in did take a toll on his activity during the day. Emily would have to be awoken and fed in the mornings by her grandparents, and she would voice her displeasure at not seeing her father awake in time for breakfast or up to any playtime with her. And he still had made no effort to contact any of his human peers in the city.

Martha and Dante spoke amongst themselves that this was just a depressive phase for Lars, and he’d get himself out of it once he was feeling better. But eventually, Martha’s worry was too much for her to sit on the sidelines, and she discreetly had brought up her concerns that afternoon when Lars woke up. He’d been much too tired to argue with her, and halfheartedly assured he’d be in better shape soon.

He recalled his half-hearted promise to his mother to ease off on the visits to bars and nightlife as he stared into the bright green pool that was Midori and downed the third shot of the night with a sigh, blinking tiredly. 

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Captain Salty of the Stars.”

Lars frowned as he heard a voice in his ear and turned his head to look and see a familiar face a few smug inches away from his own.

“Kevin?”

“Hey, sweet thang.”

“I thought you got sucked into that portal I accidentally made a few years ago,” Lars furrowed his brow, “Where’d you come from?”

“I ended up landing in a stupid cornfield, and had to walk two miles to a gas station...no Galaxybucks in sight,” Kevin scoffed, “Anyway that was ages ago. Where have  _ you _ been all this time?”   
  
The former captain looked down at the glass in front of him, avoiding eye contact as much as he possibly could. “Nothing much. Just….visiting.”   
  
“Alriiight.” The other boy’s face screwed up in confusion. “Where’s the fat flightless fuck?”   
  
“Don’t call him that! He has a name, ya know,” Lars grumbled, cheeks growing hot in frustration at how willing he still was to defend Ronaldo. “And he’s….not here.”   
  
The gears in Kevin’s head were turning slowly but surely, and finally, he got an idea of what Lars meant. A sharp chortle left his throat. “Oh my god, did he dump you?”   
  
“Ugh, listen!” Angered by the other’s taunts, the pink human whipped around to glare at him. “He didn’t break up with me! I broke up….I mean….h-he….we….” Lars sighed and turned away again, resting his elbow on the table and holding his head up with that arm. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”    
  
“Whoa, wait, you broke up with him?” Kevin sounded confused. “Then why are you all messed up about it? You can do better anyway.”   
  
“Shut the hell up,” Lars grumbled, biting so hard into his lip to stop the flow of tears that he could taste blood. Somehow, even that couldn’t stop a few from sliding out. Kevin noticed, and his mouth gaped open slightly.   
  
The person next to the former captain got up from his spot and walked away, leaving an extra seat next to Lars. Taking advantage of this, the other boy took the empty stool and put a hand on the pink human’s shoulder. He expected to be slapped away, but surprisingly, Lars only jolted a bit in shock and looked ahead of him.   
  
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Lars stared at Kevin for several seconds, and glared, “What’s your game here?”

“No game. Obviously, this whole thing has you torn apart, and I’ve got no stake in it, so why not tell me?”

Taking a deep breath in his nose to calm himself, Lars finally spoke, “We had a bad fight, and I left. I need time away, so I can figure out….what we even are anymore. He hasn’t come back down to earth to find me yet or anything, so I guess he’s trying to figure stuff out too.”

“Well, if you ask me, if he’s not chasing after you by now, then forget it. He’s not worth it if he can’t bother coming to find you after this long.”

“I’d agree with that if there wasn’t the fact I...really fucking hurt him,” Lars admitted, “And if I were him I’d be doing whatever he is doing right now, staying away from me.”

Kevin leaned on his elbows, “So what are you going to do in the meantime? Linger and lament? Get drunk off your ass?”

“Already on it,” Lars huffed, gesturing to the bartender for another shot, but Kevin nudged his hand down.

“Hold off on another drink, sweetheart, you don’t need it.”

“Y’don’t know what I need,” Lars slurred grumpily.

“I know you don’t need to get wasted and pathetic this soon,” he rolled his eyes, “Why don’t you make the most of your time without your man, and...I don’t know, move on?? He’s obviously not invested in making up right away, so why linger on it? Make better use of your time. Dance. Smell flowers or whatever poor people shit you do.”

“You think I’m  _ poor? _ ”

“Middle class, poor, whatever. Just something other than getting wasted off of Midori and feeling sorry for yourself. Live it up a little! The night is young,” Kevin gripped Lars’ shoulder, giving it a shake, “Why don’t you mingle with the nightlife and let yourself be  _ happy? _ ”

Lars took another deep breath and groaned, “Alright, fine. What did you have in mind?”

“Y’like dancing?”

He thought of Ronaldo and their gentle swaying to music on the ship. It wasn’t what Kevin probably had in mind.

“I guess.”

Smirking, Kevin stood up and offered out his hand, “Alrighty then, captain. Dance.”   
  
The ex-captain studied the other boy up and down, clutching his hand back cautiously. He’d dealt with Kevin before, unfortunate as it was. He knew very well what this guy was about. There wasn’t a genuine bone in his body, and this had to be some kind of joke….right?    
  
Then again, Lars had never seen such a look on his face before. This wasn’t the typical smug glare he always had when he was mocking someone. He seemed to be taking this seriously. Did Kevin actually want to dance with someone like him?   
  
Unsure of it was because of the strange sensation flooding through his body by being looked at in such a way or simply because he was very lonely, Lars sucked a deep breath of air through his nostrils and reluctantly took the other’s hand.   
  
“Perfect,” Kevin chuckled in a whisper, pulling him closer.   
  
When he first accepted the offer, Lars had expected to suddenly be slung into a kind of dancing that was too advanced for him. Just about everyone in Beach City had seen Kevin’s hot-shot dancing. It was quite possibly the only not horrible thing the guy was good at. And although he’d done his fair share of dancing with Ronaldo when they were together, Lars wasn’t used to anything like that.   
  
But instead, Kevin was taking it slow and paying attention to how the pink boy was moving, careful to match the awkwardness of his dancing. It was as if he was actually doing this for Lars and not just to get a kick out of it. Confused by this, the former captain looked up to find the brown-haired boy wearing the exact same genuine smile from earlier. God, why did it have to make him blush?   
  
“Having fun?” Kevin asked after a few minutes of dancing together.   
  
“Heh….yeah,” Lars replied between gritted teeth, trying his hardest to look away.   
  
“You’re not bad.”   
  
He had to laugh. “Oh, please. I’m not good either.”   
  
“I won’t say that.”   
  
“Really? Because I thought you’d be dying to tear into me like the mean giraffe you are.”   
  
“Look, space boy.” Kevin slipped a hand under Lars’ chin, pulling his head up so that their gazes were locked once more. “I know what you’re going through. Breakups suck. And I don’t want to say I feel sorry for you because that’d make me look like a fuckin’ loser, but I can’t just leave you like that. The least I can do is help take your mind off things. Got it?”   
  
It wasn’t exactly the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him, but the fact that it came from Kevin, of all people, made it feel like that. Lars couldn’t help but smile. “Oh. Well….thanks for that.”   
  
“Don’t even mention it. Seriously. If you tell anyone I did this for you, I’m gonna-”   
  
“I won’t say a word.”

Soon, the music changed to ‘slow dance’ music, prompting people to grab for a partner. With that, Lars cautiously let his head rest against Kevin’s shoulder, allowing the other to awkwardly put his arms around him. He was dizzy and spinning from the alcohol, and it felt nice to have something to rest on. His ear just happened to be close to the Kevin’s chest, and he swore he could hear, for the first time in years, a normal heartbeat.

He couldn’t help but smile into Kevin’s chest as he kept dancing slowly with him, unsure if it was the alcohol or something else that was keeping him warm.

Soon, Lars had his fill of the nightclub scene, and was ready to call it a night. Kevin offered to usher him out to his car, and Lars thought nothing much of it, figuring a ride home would be better than drunkenly stumbling ten blocks.

Once he was in the car, Kevin wasn’t in much of a hurry to get going. Lounging back in his seat, he smiled, “Y’have a fun night, hon?”

Lars paused a moment, then grinned a little, “Yeah. I did. Thanks. I do feel a little better.”

Kevin’s smile curled into a knowing smirk, “Good.”

Alcohol and overall exhaustion had affected Lars’ reflexes enough so that when he suddenly felt a mouth going over his, he didn’t think much of it, and was starting to melt into the kiss Kevin initiated. But as he realized what he was doing, even if it felt nice, something didn’t feel right. It didn’t stop him from kissing back when Kevin pulled back for air, and went back in again though.

It was when he felt a hand sliding up under his shirt that his senses finally took hold, and he pulled back, “Woah.”

Kevin smirked, “So...what’s say we close this little show for the night at a motel or something? My treat.”

“Little show,” Lars repeated under his breath, almost confused, then frowned, “Was this supposed to be a one-night fling??”

“Don’t consider it a fling,” Kevin waved off with as much charm as he could squeeze out, “Consider it an act of empathy by yours truly. I just wanted you to cheer up, baby.”

“No offense Kevin,” Lars spat, face turning red, “I’m not looking for empathy if all you want out of it is to get me into bed with you. Unless you’re talking a relationship or something here, I’m out.”

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Look, you’re cute. And you probably would make good boyfriend material if I was looking for someone in the long haul. But I’m not that interested in immortality, see?”, he vainly looked at his nails, “And as much as I’d like to keep this perfect body forever, I don’t want the conditions that  _ you _ have to go along with it. Sorry but not sorry,” he scoffed lightly.

Lars’ face grew hot with anger and embarrassment, and he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Hey, where ya goin’?”, Kevin asked in confusion at Lars’ bailing out.

“I’m walking home,” Lars grumbled as he opened the car door, “Bye, Kevin.”  And before the other could answer, Lars slammed the car door shut and already began walking.

_ Oh god I could just kick myself!! _ Lars thought in his head as he stormed down the street, head spinning in embarrassment and inebriation. For a minute there, he really thought that jerk had a deeper side to him that he could coax out of him. He’d fallen for all the charm and sweet nothings at the drop of a hat. 

Gripping at his hair, Lars suddenly realized something that nearly made his heart fall into his stomach.

He was still wearing his engagement ring.

Up until Kevin’s game, Lars hadn’t even thought to take off his ring. In his head, he wasn’t even entirely sure if he and Ronaldo were broken up or not. The term he’d been using was ‘just taking a break’. He didn’t know if that entitled him to other relationships or not. It didn’t feel like it.

Tears welling up in his eyes, Lars lumbered heavily down the street, the streetlights blurring, even as he blinked. Instead of turning in the direction towards home, he kept on the path, towards another location he was used to visiting in time’s past...at least years earlier.

Sadie had no idea who would be knocking on her door at 2 AM, and armed herself defensively before she opened the door. She only lowered the baseball bat in her hand as she stared into the sad, familiar eyes in front of her.

_ “Can I come in?” _

* * *

“Sorry we don’t have actual cream or anything,” Barb chirped as she placed the container of powdered dairy creamer and sugar on the table by Lars, “I’ve been meaning to run to the store.”

“It’s fine,” Lars gave a weak, but grateful smile to her, “I get sick from heavy cream in coffee anyway.”

“Yet you drank it all the time back in the day,” Sadie teased softly as she sat across from him with her own cup of straight black coffee.

“I’ll leave ya two alone to chat,” Barb smiled, “I’m headin’ back to bed. Need my beauty sleep and all.”

If Lars wasn’t so tired, he would have teased her with such a line as ‘Aw Barb, you don’t need it.’  But...he didn’t feel like it tonight.   
  
Once she’d left, Sadie was quick to break the silence. “So, what brings you here?”   
  
“Uh….I….” Lars stared down into his cup of coffee, looking at his reflection in the smooth brown liquid. He couldn’t help but chuckle at how pathetic he looked.    
  
“Lars, what happened?” Sadie persisted, clearly worried for him.   
  
The former captain sighed. “I made out with Kevin.”   
  
“What!?” The blonde girl gasped, a disgusted look on her face. “Lars! What the hell were you thinking?”   
  
“I don’t know!” Lars ran a hand through his hair and hissed a breath of air out between his gritted teeth. “I guess it was a heat of the moment thing. He walked up to me in the bar and acted like-”   
  
“The bar!? Laaaaars….” Sadie sighed, disappointment clouding her tone. “I thought you said you were gonna stop going there.”   
  
“I said I would try. And I did. But I failed. I don’t know why you’re surprised.”    
  
A look of guilt made its way to Sadie’s face, and she looked at the floor. “Go on.”   
  
Lars began mentally reliving the night’s events, voice cracking as he did so. “He came up to me, and I thought he was gonna make fun of me, and come to think of it, he actually did a little, but that’s besides the point! He acted….nice. Like he actually cared about me. He talked to me, danced with me, complimented me, offered to drive me home, made me  _ feel  _ things….but of course the second we got into the car, he immediately tries to get in my pants. Tells me he just wanted something fun that would last for one night tops, so I told him to fuck off and walked away.” The pink human’s fists were clenched tightly, and a tear rolled down his cheek. “And now, I’m here.”   
  
Sadie was glancing at him with a look of sympathy. “Oh….I’m so sorry-”   
  
“God, I’m such an idiot!” Lars suddenly exploded, hitting the table just hard enough for the coffee inside the cup in front of him to splash a little. “I actually thought he wanted something serious! Kevin, of all people! Am I really that desperate?”   
  
“Lars, you’re not-”   
  
“And to make matters worse, I don’t even know what Ronaldo and I are anymore!” His voice was shaking, and tears now flowed down his face rapidly. “What if he still loves me? What if I cheated on him? I have no idea what he thinks of me at all….but part of me hopes it’s nothing good. I don’t deserve it.”   
  
“Please don’t say th-”   
  
“I still can’t take the stupid ring off! I’m so sure that he wants nothing more to do with me, but I can’t get over him, Sadie. I think about him almost all the time and how I’d do anything to get him back. He made me feel so wonderful, and for a second, I actually thought someone else could make me feel that way, but I don’t think I’m ever gonna come close to what I had with him.” Lars’ hand tugged at his hair in frustration, the other gripping the table as if he was holding on for dear life. “I did this. I fucked up the best thing in my life, and now I’m never gonna find love again. I don’t deserve to find love again. I’m a fucking idiot. I’m a stupid piece of shit, and I deserve to die for what I did to-”   
  
“SHUT UP!”

Lars stared at her in slight bewilderment, tears and snot still running down his nose. Sadie took his sufficient silence to keep standing on her chair as she glared him down.

“I am so sick and tired of hearing you beat yourself up over all of this!”, she snapped, sincerely frustrated, “You didn’t do anything wrong this time, and you feel like you have to just  _ vanish forever _ because of it?! Kevin’s a jerk, and he took advantage of you, that’s not your fault!”, she looked ready to shake Lars by the shoulders, “And you have to stop tearing yourself up over Ronaldo. What happened happened, and you have to move on! I know you don’t want to, but you  _ need to do something _ other than feel sorry for yourself all day!”

A fat tear rolled off the tip of Lars’ nose, and into his coffee cup. He stared into the cup, and sniffled after several seconds of tense silence, “I know. But, I  _ miss _ Ronnie, Sadie. And it’s not just him! I lost my crew. My friends….” He sighed. “I left space to get away, and I still think about Ronaldo every second of my life back here on Earth. Everything here reminds me of him or one of the Off Colors or something about my old life. The only time I feel any better about it is when my therapist explains it all, and for a few hours I feel almost functional...and then things just fall apart again.”

Sadie sat back on her knees in her chair and sighed, “...so what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Lars admitted, “I hate the fact that therapy is the only thing that actually can help me. I hate feeling so helpless.

There was a long silence between the two of them, Sadie’s fingers drumming the table softly, and Lars’ tired sniffling and occasional sip of coffee.

“Y’know,” Sadie began, “Back when you were gone, and I was missing you really bad, I performed with the band, all over Beach City. It really helped me get through all the waiting and worrying and...not knowing what the future was gonna be like. Maybe you can find an outlet or something that...doesn’t remind you of how bad you feel.”

Before Lars could answer she added, “And that means no getting sloshed every other night and sleeping for 18 hours a day.”

“...Yeah...mm...I guess,” Lars sighed, shrugging indifferently. It wasn’t a bad idea by any means, he just...didn’t know exactly what that could be. He loved baking and painting and piano, but he knew those would all just remind him of Ronaldo somehow. And he loved Emily, but he was not going to let her be the one who had to deal with him falling apart. He knew better than that.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Sadie pat his shoulder as she got up to fish for snacks in the cupboard, and couldn’t help but laugh, “After the band and I did all the venues in Beach City, we ended up going to different towns and playing...even different states!”, she mused, “I picked up all those weird souvenirs and stuff for when you came back...but it seemed pretty silly in comparison to all the cool space stuff you brought back for  _ me _ -”   
  
“Do you have any recommendations?”    
  
The sudden question caught the blonde off-guard, and she looked over her shoulder to face Lars. “Wait….you really wanna do it?”   
  
“Yeah. I think so.” Lars took a sip of his coffee.    
  
Well, that was quick. At least he seemed to be trying to help himself. “Okay then. Uh….maybe you could just join me and the band? We’re going on a tour again in a few-”   
  
“Nah. I need to be alone, save for Emily.” The former captain took a deep breath, calming himself. “Thanks for the offer though.”   
  
“Oh, right. That’s okay.” Part of her almost wished she hadn’t put the idea in Lars’ head now, but she shook it off. It was best for him to do whatever he thought would help him get better. She just hoped it actually did so. “Hmmmm….let’s see….what kind of place are you looking for? Because if you’re like me and want something a bit colder than Beach City but not so cold that you’ll freeze your ass off, maybe you could go to-”   
  
“I don’t care! I just want to go somewhere that’s not Beach City or space,” Lars snapped, voice still cracking from his previous breakdown.    
  
Sadie winced at his harsh tone. “That really narrows it down,” she laughed, hoping her humor could make him smile. It didn’t.   
  
“Actually, I think I’ll figure it out on my own. I might just get in my car and go wherever the road takes me. That’s what I did in space, except this time I won’t have evil aliens chasing after me. Just a lot of bad memories.” He chuckled a bit at his remark.   
  
“Do whatever you need to do,” his friend assured him, walking back to the table. “But….” Her voice trailed away, and she looked down at her feet nervously, standing in front of her chair.   
  
“What?”   
  
“Can you….tell me? I won’t tell anyone, I promise! And it’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just….” She rocked back and forth nervously. “I’d maybe like….to visit a few times if that’s alright? If it’s not, I’ll leave you-”   
  
“Of course I’ll keep in touch with you! Sadie, you’re like the glue holding me together right now.” Lars forced a smile to ease his best friend’s nerves.   
  
Sadie couldn’t help but grin back. “Heh. It’s mutual.”    
  
“Once I’ve found a place, you’ll be the first to know. Maybe even the only person to know.” Although Lars wanted to tell his parents, he wasn’t sure if that’d be the best course of action. They’d probably follow him up there and force him to come back home. Steven would be the same situation except he had much easier access. “It’ll be our little secret.”   
  
“Haven’t heard that in a while,” the blonde jided, taking her seat at the table once more, glad to see a smile on Lars’ face, even a tiny one, for the first time in months. 

 

_ I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee _

_ Clouds in my coffee _

  
  
  
  


  
  



	39. Oh No, Not My Baby

_ Oh no, not my baby; oh no, not my sweet baby... _

 

“Captain, I’ve been having some scattered readings on the radar of other ships,” Rhodonite gulped, “I can’t tell if we’re being followed or if our ship is broken!”

“I’ll take a look at it, don’t worry too much,” Ronaldo assured her, “I’ve theorized our course may be intersecting with a littered trail of inactive satellites that haven’t fully turned off their beacons!”

“O-oh! Really? I’ve...never heard of that before.”

“It’s a real thing. I can totally prove it,” the captain crossed his arms with a proud look.

In spite of the rocky start, Ronaldo took to leading a band of space pirates like a duck to water. His natural leadership skills and exuberance made for quite the captain. This was something he’d dreamt of for most of his life, after all. Not to mention, his years of experience as Lars’ first mate helped greatly. It was a nice promotion.   
  
At first, the new captain was torn up over his fiance’s (if he could even call him that anymore) disappearance. He’d never felt pain more intense than that following the sudden departure of his fiance and their kid. The former first mate had spent countless nights lying completely still in his bed and staring at the ceiling with the sound of silence in the background, not having the energy to do much of anything. It felt like it did the first time Lars had walked out of his life, except worse because that was before they got together, more or less adopted a child and got engaged. The crew understood and let him be, for they were rather torn up over the situation themselves. However, after about a week and a half of sulking, Ronaldo realized something: he couldn’t let this stop him from doing what he’d been asked to do.   
  
Lars had told him to take care of the crew, and what had he been doing? Sitting around and shoveling that dry packaged space ice cream from the Beach City Space Museum he’d been saving behind for an emergency into his mouth! He missed his lover desperately and would do anything to have him back, but that couldn’t get in the best of his responsibility. So, he finally took on his new role of ship captain, and it helped him immensely.    
  
It was hard to dwell on sadness when you were being a space captain. There were so many cool things to do that he didn’t even know about because Lars apparently just didn’t tell him about them! For example, he had no idea how to work the ship’s phone, and the Rutiles had apparently been told to never let him find out how because Lars thought he would screw it up somehow. But now that they had no other choice, they’d shown him how to work it, and boy, was it fun! Sure sometimes the gems they’d prank call would get mad and chase them around, but if there was anything he’d learned from Lars, it was that the underdogs always came out on top. Especially when your ship was fast.   
  
Ronaldo was also starting to realize something else: he could be wrong, but it really seemed like Lars screwed him and the entire crew over. He could have at least let him know he was going away instead of leaving a note. Plus, he took their daughter with him without a word to Ronaldo! What kind of person does that? Of course, he still loved Lars and maybe he always would, but perhaps it really was time to move on.    
  
Now, he called the shots. All that stuff Lars had stopped him from doing because he obviously saw him as stupid and childish were now things within his range. Ronaldo could live life to the fullest without anyone to hold him back, something he’d longed to do before his life was changed by a certain pink human. He could start fights, visit planets and leave the toilet seat up without someone falling in!   
  
Ronaldo was his own person now, and he was starting to love every second of it. 

“Alright, Rhodonite,” he grinned, “I think I’ve discovered the problem!”

“O-oh? Really? What is it?”, Rhodonite asked, with a bit of hope.

“ME~!”, Emerald’s face suddenly burst onto the screen in front of her, making the poor fusion scream and fall out of her seat.  The rival gem immediately cackled in boisterous laughter, “Be afraid, Off Colors! I’ve got you by the tail and there’s no stopping me and my crew now!”

“Oh great,” Ronaldo sighed, “Look Emerald, like I told you last week, the definition of ‘truce’ is that you’re supposed to...I don’t know...leave us alone????”

“But that’s hardly any fun!”, the gem scoffed, rolling her eyes, “Do you know how hard it is to find worthy adversaries in this galaxy that actually pay you any attention?”

“It’s really hard,” Bloodstone suddenly piped up, and waved at the screen, “Hi!”

“Hi,” Ronaldo waved back.

“Don’t do that!”, Emerald suddenly whined at her first mate, “It kills the illusion of terror!”

“O-oh sorry!”, Bloodstone whispered, blushing with embarrassment, “Do you want me to try and scare them for real this time?”

“No,” Emerald groaned, rubbing her forehead, “Just...make sure nobody else is after our ship.”

“Oh. Gotcha!”, the freckled gem gave an eager two thumbs up and scurried offscreen, and Emerald sighed, boredly resting her chin on her hand.

“I take it you’re not used to truces with enemies?”, Ronaldo smiled smugly.

“No,” Emerald almost spat, looking annoyed about the situation, “It’s more fun when I try to kill you.”

“I know. But with the circumstances, and the fact that if you did kill us, you wouldn’t have anyone else to chase, I highly suggest that this is the best course of action.”

“Fair,” Emerald muttered, then glanced aside for a moment, “...speaking of the circumstances,” she cleared her throat, “Any contact from...your original leader?”

Ronaldo’s smile dropped a little, and he shook his head, “Nothing.”

“Hm.” The rival captain slouched back in her chair, looking frustrated and tapping her hand against her crossed arms. This confused Ronaldo.   
  
“What’s wrong with you?”   
  
“Oh, nothing,” Emerald sighed, twirling the end of her hair around her finger. “It’s just….oh, I shouldn’t say it!”   
  
The new captain groaned. “Okay.”   
  
“N-No, wait! I changed my mind!”   
  
“Okay, then-”   
  
“Actually, no, I shouldn’t.”   
  
“Oh. Well, then, can you please-”   
  
“Wait! On second thought, maybe I-”   
  
“EMERALD, JUST SAY IT!”    
  
“Okay, okay. It’s just….” Suddenly, Emerald threw her hands up in the air and groaned loudly. “You’re sooooo boring!”   
  
Out of all the things Ronaldo was expecting to hear, that definitely wasn’t that high on the list. He gasped in shock and recoiled. “W-What!?”   
  
“You heard me! You’re boring! Dull! Tedious! Unimaginative! The least fun lifeform I have ever had an encounter with! The equivalent of talking to a pile of gravel! Talking to a Ruby is more exciting than talking to you! No offense, Ruby.”   
  
“What did she say?” a voice off-screen popped up.   
  
Emerald stood up, pointing her finger at the screen as she further berated Ronaldo. “Every time I call you, it’s truce this, truce that! You’re so….peaceful! It’s disgusting! Lars, as vile as he might have been, was fierce! Him and I could argue for eons and eons and never tire of it! He left me chase him all over the cosmos! All you do is stare at the screen and maybe call me a peasant or something if you’re really mad. But overall, you’re boring, and I demand you tell me when your rightful captain will return this instant!”   
  
The crew looked to Ronaldo, who was simply staring at the screen as Emerald glowered at him, the fur on her neck puffing up like a spooked cat’s tail. However, their new captain was stoic as ever, just glaring right back with an unreadable expression and not even trying to stay a word. This infuriated the rival gem even more.   
  
“See, you can’t even banter with me!” she growled. “That was the only thing Lars was good at! Call me a demeaning Earth name, so I can ask what that means and have you laugh at me and try to tell me that it’s a compliment, so I’ll say it to my crew, which I’ve gotten better about not falling for by the way. Just…..gah,  _ do something! _ ”   
  
“You’re right.”   
  
“That wasn’t even a very good comeaba-wait, what?”    
  
“I said you’re right. Now go.”   
  
Instead of hanging up, Emerald made a series of confused noises that sounded like she was being strangled. “Are you kidding me!? You’re just going to give in! You’re not supposed to tell me I’m right, you moron! I swear, I could call an abandoned diamond base and get more of a fun conversation out of a chair than-”   
  
Ronaldo pressed the button that would end the call, and the green gem’s face disappeared from the screen. Every gem in the room was staring at him, concerned for their captain. However, none of them could even begin to think of something to say to him. Rubbing his eyes, Ronaldo got to his feet and silently walked out of the galley, careful not to let any of the crew see what expression was on his face.   
  
Blue Moon, who was having a conversation with Yellow Star next to Padparadscha before Emerald called, tapped her partner’s shoulder as if communicating where she planned to go with her silently. After the other gem nodded her head, she left for Ronaldo’s room.    
  
As Blue was leaving, Padparadscha gasped. “Oh no! It’s Emerald!”

The zircon poked her head cautiously into the captain’s private quarters, and saw him slumped on the edge of the bed that was too big for just one person. He was staring at his lap with a weary, crestfallen expression. Tears weren’t in his eyes, but he looked like he could burst into them at any moment. He had a corner of his coat pinched between his thumb and forefinger, absentmindedly rubbing it.

Blue Moon looked to her partner, who nudged her encouragingly, and she cleared her throat, “Ahm….captain Ronaldo?”

Ronaldo jolted at the voice, and looked up, relaxing as he saw it was her, and sighed, “Hi.”

“I-Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” he rubbed tiredly at his cheek, “Everything’s...fine.”

“It...doesn’t exactly sound fine,” she mumbled, “What...what was that all about with Emerald? You didn’t even have a retort for what she said.”

“I know. It’s because she’s right. For once she was absolutely right,” he spoke, voice edging with defeat.

“That’s absolutely ridiculous!”, Yellow Star suddenly spoke up, “She’s just mad because she has no life outside of harassing us, and she was just trying to get a rise out of you!”

“But she’s right...this crew isn’t the same without Lars. And I truly was a fool to think I could replicate his stead,” Ronaldo sighed, “I get to do all this cool stuff without him...but it’s not anything like all the cool stuff I did with him. And Emerald’s right! If Lars was all about peacemaking and diplomacy, he’d have set a truce with her ages ago...but he’s always been about the spirit of adventure!”, he exclaimed, raising his hands in dismay.

“...I know you...don’t really like to talk about it,” Blue began, rubbing at her arm, “But you…probably really do miss him don’t you?”

“...Of course I do,” Ronaldo sighed, taking his glasses off, “Every single day. But it’s clear he...doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore...I mean, he even took Emily. He wanted us to raise her together, and he left with her. Her ‘birthday’ was at least two months ago and I didn’t even get to celebrate it with her,” he lamented, “I made Lars hate me enough to leave.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you-”

“Then why hasn’t he come back???”

“Well…,” Blue tried to think of a good explanation, “...maybe he’s just scared to...like...you probably are of going back to earth.”

“When did I ever say I was scared of going back???”  
  
“Well you did almost dry heave at the suggestion we re-visit the earth about a week ago.”

“And you shut down all suggestions to try and contact Lars’ parents for a wellness check-”

Ronaldo tried to respond, but in his frantic frustration, he tripped over his tongue, and couldn’t find the words.

“...why don’t you want to go back to Earth?”

After a long pause, Ronaldo sighed, “Because I know the minute we go back, we’ll try to go find Lars...and he probably won’t want to see me anymore.”   
  
The Zircons looked at each other with worried glances. Neither of them could even imagine how he must feel about this situation. Everyone on board the ship missed Lars a lot, but Ronaldo had a bond with their former captain like no other. It was hard to think of what to say to him because both of them knew it would take more than words for him to get over this.    
  
Blue thought back to when Yellow had abandoned ship to retrieve the other Zircons from Alpha Prison 9. She’d spent the days after moping around and wanting her back, similarly to what Ronaldo was doing right now. However, the worst part of the whole experience wasn’t the thoughts that plagued her of everything she could have done instead or the thought of never finding Yellow again….it was thinking that even if they did manage to rescue her, she would never speak to her again.   
  
Gulping, the Zircon put a hand on Ronaldo’s shoulder, prompting him to turn his head to look her in the eyes. “Do you know that?”   
  
“Well….no, I guess,” Ronaldo sighed, glancing away again. “But I don’t see why he would want anything to do with me. I said some really messed up stuff to him that night. If anything, maybe it’s for the best that this happened….”   
  
“Oh, please!” Yellow groaned, making her way over to stand in front of Ronaldo. “You’re  _ miserable, _ Ronaldo. Do you really think you’re going about this the best way?”   
  
“I….don’t know….but agh!” The pink human brought a hand up to grip at his hair, tears starting to find their way to his eyes. “I thought if anything, I could turn this whole situation around and make it into something good, y’know? I’m leading a band of space rebels, for crying out loud! And I can do anything, even the stuff Lars wouldn’t let me do! But I don’t feel better at all. In fact, I feel worse.” He laughed breathily. “I thought since he obviously wanted me out of his life that leaving it that way was the best thing to do, but….maybe it’s not. Maybe I’d rather have Lars here and not be in charge than to be in charge but spend the whole time just wishing he was here to help me run this place.”   
  
Before Blue could open her mouth to speak words of encouragement, Yellow clapped her hands together loudly. “Good, good! Then it’s all settled! Let’s set a course for Earth and get you two back together! I’ll go tell the Rutiles th-”   
  
“Yellow, wait,” Ronaldo stopped her. “As much as I do want Lars back, I don’t know if he wants me back. What would I even say to him? And Emily? What if she thinks I abandoned her and doesn’t want anything to do with me? This could either turn out really good or really bad, and I’m not sure I’m ready to find out which.”   
  
Blue let out a gentle sigh. “Ronaldo, look. I know you’re scared that Lars is still mad, and in the end, the choice is still his to make, but you should at least talk to him. If you don’t, we’ll just be stuck in this rut for eternity.”   
  
“But what if he hates me?” Ronaldo was trying not to cry more than he already had, but it wasn’t working well.   
  
“Well, what if he doesn’t?” Blue replied. “What if he misses you? What if he’s waiting for you? What if he’s still as in love with you as you are with him?” She gave her friend a kind smile. “It won’t hurt to try.”   
  
For a second, the new captain looked ready to bail, but instead, he composed himself with a deep breath of air and clasped his hands together. “Okay. We’re doing this.” He stood to his feet, and for the first time in what seemed like months, a genuine smile of excitement appeared on his face. “Pack your bags, ladies. We’re going to Earth.”   
  
“Oh, finally!” Yellow sighed in exasperation. Blue simply kept her pleased smile, internally patting herself on the back for getting him to go through with this.

* * *

Seeing his fiancee’s prize shuttle parked safely in the Barrigas’ backyard was a promising and anxiety-inducing sight for Ronaldo. It made him hesitate before knocking. Either the door would open and he would be ushered in, or he would be met with a slam in his face. But neither would happen if he didn’t do it. Gulping, he knocked on the door, and waited in suspense.

Martha was visibly surprised to see Ronaldo at the door, and whatever words she was going to say faded in her throat. After several seconds, she finally spoke, emotion uncertain, “Oh. Ronaldo.”

“H-Hi Mrs. Barriga,” Ronaldo awkwardly greeted, “It’s been a while.”

“Well. It certainly has,” she nodded, not exactly the most welcoming with her tone.

“...look, I know...things are really really complicated, and I know...you and Mr. Barriga are probably really upset with me, but...I need to talk to Lars...even if he doesn’t want to talk to me...I need him to know I really really miss him.”

Martha didn’t respond at first, instead just staring at him for a moment, then sighed, taking off her glasses, and looking aside.

“...what is it?”, Ronaldo’s stomach dropped.

“Lars hasn’t been in Beach City for months,” she spoke, voice almost worried.

“Wh-what?! Where is he?”

“We don’t know. He took my old camper van out on the road, and said he wanted to explore the Earth like he did in outer space. I haven’t gotten a phone call from him in weeks,” she admitted, “Last I heard him, he was traveling down south towards the Keys.”

Ronaldo licked his dry lips in disbelief, “What about Emily?”

“He took her with him. I don’t think he could have beared to leave her with us,” Martha nervously played with her hands, “I tried to convince him to let her stay here, maybe start daycare, but he wasn’t having it,” she shook her head.

“Oh…..” A lump sunk in Ronaldo’s stomach, and he swallowed hard, trying hard to process the news. “Thanks for letting me know, Mrs. Barriga.”   
  
“You’re welcome.”   
  
As the two simply stared at one another, the pink boy got the feeling he wasn’t exactly wanted there right now. Sighing and stuffing his hands in his pockets, he nodded to Martha. “Well, I’d better see my dad and Peedee. I hope you uh….have a good day.”   
  
“You too,” she spoke, a little less coldly than before, but that didn’t change the fact that she was quick to slam the door in his face. Ronaldo winced at the sudden noise it made and started to shuffle back toward where Blue Moon was standing a few feet away from Lars’ house. She’d come along for emotional support in case her friend started freaking out in front of the Barrigas. However, seeing him return in such a state and without Lars in tow made her worry spike up.   
  
“So….how’d it go?” she asked once Ronaldo was in earshot.   
  
The pink human avoided eye contact as he replied. “He’s gone.”   
  
Blue’s face lit up in shock. “What!?”   
  
“He took Emily and left to travel around Earth. His mom said she hasn’t heard from him in a few weeks, but he’s probably somewhere south of the Keys.” A mournful chuckle left his mouth. “She didn’t seem too happy to see me either.”   
  
“Oh….” It was a lot for the Zircon to process. She bit her lip, the gravity of the situation settling down slowly but surely. Despite everything, she was so certain it would be fine. This was certainly an unpleasant and unexpected turn of events. “So….what do we do?”   
  
“What do we do? What do you mean what do we do?” Ronaldo looked up as he continued in a louder tone. “We’re going after him, Blue.”   
  
Somehow, this was even more shocking than the revelation of Lars’ whereabouts. “Seriously!? But Ronaldo, we have no idea where he is! The Earth is a massive planet. It could take us eons to find him, if we even do. There’s no way we could pull it off! I mean, I know it’s hard, and I miss him too, but we need to-”   
  
“No, no, no,” he cut Blue off. “I think I know how to find out where he is.”   
  
“How? You just got done telling me his parents had no idea. He certainly would have told them, of all people!”   
  
“Not exactly,” Ronaldo explained. “You see, Lars loves his parents, but they’re not the first person he’d go to about something like this.”   
  
“Oh, really?” Blue cocked her head to the side. “Then who is?”   
  
A knowing smile spread across Ronaldo’s lips as he dug his phone out of his pocket. Instead of answering Blue, he went right to scrolling through his contacts, looking for the person he knew he had to contact. Once he’d found who he was searching for, he pressed the button that would dial their number and held the phone up to his ear, awaiting a response.   
  
“Ronaldo?” the Zircon piped up. “Who are you-”   
  
Blue’s words were cut off by Ronaldo’s voice. “Hey, Sadie! It’s me, Ronaldo….yeah….heh, right? I really should visit more. Look, I wanna catch up, I really do, but I need to talk to you about something asap. Is it cool if I come over?”

 

_ You're not like those other guys _

_ Who lead you on and tell you lies _


	40. Go Your Own Way

_ If I could _

_ Maybe I'd give you my world _

_ How can I _

_ When you won't take it from me _

 

It wasn’t exactly what Lars would have planned for a situation like this, but sometimes he had to make do. And Emily most certainly didn’t seem to mind the fact that she was sat on his lap in a roadside diner as she stared in fascinated awe at the flickering candle stuck right in the center of a stack of pancakes.

“Happy birthday, Kiwi!”, Lars had cheered happily, trying to demonstrate to her how to blow out the candle, only to watch her swat at it in fascination, extinguishing the flame with her fist. He couldn’t help but worry she might have burnt herself, but seeing her delighted expression helped restore his smile. 

He wasn’t exactly sure where on the map they’d been at the time. He thought they were at least close to St. Louis, but his stubbornness about not rechecking the map did prove to cause a few unexpected detours. Not that he minded. He wasn’t exactly looking for a destination, and he wasn’t exactly on any sort of quest. The spirit of exploration was what motivated him throughout this trip, and he liked it that way.

When Emily’s birthday had come around, he knew he had to celebrate such a milestone. Back when he was still captain of the Off Colors, he’d envisioned and planned for a party complete with a cake that he’d make, with presents. He couldn’t exactly provide that on the road, and he felt only the slightest twinge of guilt at the fact Emily’s first birthday cake was a cheap syrupy breakfast and her present was a cheap souvenir keychain with her name on it. But she loved it anyway, and it distracted him from the fact that there was several people missing from such an occasion. 

But that was the life of the road, he told himself. He had no real place to call home, and he could live with that. 

He’d made the most of every travel stop, every rest stop, every campground, every hiking trail, whatever he came across. He bought supplies and food at grocery stores when needed, and if no motel or campground was nearby, he’d sleep in the camper.  

And he was so glad he’d brought Emily, even with his mother’s fretting over it. He didn’t think he’d make it this far without her. Her presence in the car just made everything so much better, and made him feel so much less alone. She didn’t ask for much, and she was happy to just join him wherever he went. And he had more than enough time to give her the care and attention she deserved that could have possibly been hindered in the dangers of space.

Now that he didn’t have to worry about lasers and aliens and attacks from enemies, Lars could finally let Emily be involved in his adventures, and let her have as much fun as he was. And he could really put more time into helping her grow up. He helped her walk on two feet instead of four for hikes, taught her to swim in creeks and lakes like a fish, and even to start talking in full sentences, finding whatever books he could read to her in libraries and run-down second hand stores.

Months later, he’d glanced to her in her tiny carseat, sound asleep, but still hugging a large wad of weeds and flowers from the last rest stop in her arms, and he’d smiled tiredly, tussling her hair. She woke up, and blearily asked, “Dad, where we now?”

That was another thing. Somewhere along the way, as she learned more and more words to put sentences together, she began switching the name ‘Papa’ out with ‘Dad’. It was a bit of a sad, wistful thing for Lars, knowing that the former term had been her first word ever spoken, but he couldn’t be any prouder of how fast she was growing.  
  
“Somewhere in Nevada, I think,” he’d answered her, “We’ll stop at a motel in a couple hours, okay?”

“Okay,” she yawned, blinking heavily as she tried to stay awake, wanting to wait out for the promise of a nice soft bed and cable television to watch in the morning.

Lars kept to that promise when it got too dark that he didn’t want to keep traveling and risk being too tired to drive his way out of a potential desert, and pulled into the nearest hotel. Renting a room for the night, like he’d done several times before over the months, he carried Emily in both arms (she was getting too big and heavy for him to use just one arm now), helped her brush her teeth and get settled into bed. She was too sleepy for a bedtime story, in spite of her previous insistence for one, and her journey to dreamland left Lars alone in the room with his thoughts.   
  
Once he was sure she’d fallen asleep, he settled down in the other bed. The mattress wasn’t exactly the softest he’d ever slept on, and the pillows kind of smelled weird, but hey, it was better than sleeping on the ground. However, right before he was able to shut his eyes, a loud vibrating caused them to shoot open in surprise. Once he’d gotten over the shock, he realized what it was: his cellphone.   
  
Not even checking who it was before he took the call, Lars leapt up, grabbed the room key and walked outside so he wouldn’t wake Emily.    
  
“What do you want?” he grumbled, figuring it was some kind of wrong number or scam.    
  
“Uh….hey!” a familiar voice chirped on the other end. It made the former captain gasp in shock.   
  
“Sadie!? I mean, uhhhh, hey! Sorry about that, I just thought you were someone else,” he laughed nervously, rubbing his eyes.    
  
“It’s alright,” Sadie laughed. “Sorry to call so late.”   
  
“You could say that again. So, what’s up? It’s been a while.”    
  
“Nothing much.” Sadie chuckled again. “Just….regular Beach City stuff. How’s traveling?”   
  
“Pretty great, actually,” Lars replied with a smile. “It was Emily’s first birthday about two months ago.”   
  
“Awwww! Lars, why didn’t you tell me? I totally would have called sooner!” His best friend’s enthusiasm put a smile on the tired boy’s face. “Tell her Aunt Sadie wishes her a happy super belated birthday for me, okay?”   
  
“Well, she’s zonked right now, but I’ll tell her tomorrow.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s nice to talk to you again. I miss you.”   
  
“I miss you, too,” Sadie sighed.    
  
The smile on Lars’ face faltered a bit. “Bet you’re used to it, huh?”   
  
“Yeeeeah, but it doesn’t bother me. I’m just glad you’re happy.”    
  
The warmness of Sadie’s voice was enough to return the grin to the former captain’s face. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”   
  
“Heh…..” There was a bit of a pause, but then Sadie spoke again. “Oh, actually, I was calling because I wanted to know if we could like….meet up somewhere? Not right now, but maybe in a few months? That is, if you’re okay with it.”   
  
Lars took a moment to think about her offer. It had been a while since he’d seen anyone from Beach City. As much as he wanted to run away and leave it all behind, he did promise Sadie that he’d stay in touch with her, and he really did miss getting to talk to her in person rather than have her call him on the phone once every few months. Perhaps it’d be good for Emily, too. She really needed to get used to other people besides her dad.   
  
“Sorry if I shouldn’t have asked,” Sadie spoke up, cutting off Lars’ train of thought. “I just figured, y’know, since it’s been a while, that you might-”   
  
“Yeah. That sounds really nice actually.”   
  
“Oh! Cool!” Lars could almost hear his friend’s eyes lighting up at his reply. “Maybe we could meet up somewhere in Goldenstate?”   
  
The pink human gasped in delight. “Hell yeah! I’ve been meaning to check it out. My parents and I went there on vacation when I was a kid, but that was ages ago. I don’t remember much of anything about it.”   
  
“That’s cool! I’ve never been.”   
  
“Oh, seriously? Then we’ve gotta go!” Lars yawned, stretching his arms. “Ahh, I’d love to stay and chat, but it’s late, and I’m exhausted. I can call you back tomorrow morning, though. So we can plan and stuff.”   
  
“Sounds good,” Sadie said. “I’ve got practice at 7, but any time before that’s good with me.”   
  
“Awesome! It was nice talking to you again.”   
  
“You too. Night Lars!”   
  
“Night!”   
  
Lars almost didn’t want to hear the noise that meant the call was over. But he did, nonetheless, and then he was a little bit alone again. However, the promise that he’d get to see his best friend soon cheered him up a little bit more, even if he did still desperately miss a lot of other people.  
  
He quietly opened the door to his room, sighing peacefully when he realized that Emily hadn’t been stirred awake by the commotion and settled back down into his bed. Seconds later, he was sound asleep, dreaming of the adventures he’d have with his daughter along the road.   
  


* * *

Sighing, Sadie hung up her cellphone and placed it on the table by her bed. It was always sad to have to say goodbye to Lars, but at least she could trust that he’d call her again, especially since they had plans now. However, she did feel a little bad about not going into detail about why she wanted to meet him. Of course, she missed him, and nothing she said was a lie. Sadie was just….hiding a pretty big detail from him, something she probably wouldn’t even be able to let slip until she could no longer hide it.   
  
“Soooooo….what did he say?”    
  
The blonde turned her attention to the beanbag on the other side of her room, where Ronaldo sat with his legs crossed, anxiously playing with hair.    
  
“He thinks it’d be a good idea,” she told him. “We’re gonna meet him somewhere in Goldenstate in about a month or two. We’ll work out more of the details tomorrow, and I’ll let you know what we decide on.”   
  
Ronaldo sighed in relief. “Oh, thank goodness. But….are we gonna tell him all the details or….?”   
  
Sadie thought for a moment before shutting her eyes and shaking her head. “No. I don’t think we should.”

“Oh...okay,” Ronaldo sighed.

“Look, I know you want to talk to him and stuff but...y’know how jumpy Lars is?”

“Yeah,” the other sighed, “I know it better than anyone. If he knew I was coming, he’d bail last minute…”

Staring down at his hands, almost forlornly, Ronaldo sighed, “And I hate that I know that’s what would happen...because it just makes me wonder if Lars even misses me at all.”

“Of course he does,” Sadie assured, “He’s just gotta figure all this other stuff out too. He sounded pretty happy on the phone with me,” she smiled hopefully to Ronaldo, “I’m sure once he actually sees you, he’ll be really happy to have you there and stuff.”

“Yeah...I hope you’re right,” Ronaldo sighed, “...You don’t think that he thinks I hate him do you?”

Sadie was quiet for a moment, then sighed, “I wish I could say that I know he doesn’t think that, but...I don’t know. Lars is hard to read sometimes.”

“I know,” Ronaldo groaned, “I wish I could just call him and tell him I’m sorry and everything, but I don’t know what would happen. For all I know he could be happier on the road than he ever has been with me.”

It was quiet for several minutes, and Sadie nudged Ronaldo’s shoulder, “Well...we’re never gonna know until we get there and see him. And look on the bright side, you get to take a cross country trip with  _ me _ .”

“Okay, that is a perk,” Ronaldo assented, “You make road trips a fun experience...more than my dad or brother ever did.”

“They drive you crazy on them?”

“Oh you bet! Every hour it was ‘Ronaldo stop rolling the window down!’ ‘Ronaldo don’t play with the cigarette lighter! Ronaldo don’t drive the car! Ugh!!”

Sadie couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh dude, I’m so sorry. Well, I’m a way more fun driver, I promise.”

“So for once, you’re the captain, and I’m the co-pilot.”

“...Oh my god, you’re right.”   
  


* * *

“So where did Lars say he was living down here?”, Ronaldo had his face pressed against the passenger window, squinting as he tried to make out all the different signs they drove past. In spite of the name, Goldenstate didn’t have much of a gold color to its buildings, rather a beige that blended in with the desert.

“A Motel 7,” Sadie sighed, trying not to look too amused at the thought, “He’s really enjoying the roadtrip life it seems. I bet he’s gotten some encounters with bedbugs like we did back in Texas.”

“I still don’t see why you wouldn’t let us keep them,” one of the Rutiles spoke from the backseat with a sour frown.

“I have a vision we’re going to cross the state line,” Padparadscha spoke sleepily, awaking from a nap, and her prediction four hours late.

Rhodonite rolled down the window to lean her head out of the car and look onto the roof, “See anything that looks like Lars, Fluorite?”

Fluorite was keeping herself secured on top of the car, screwing her eyes shut as she handled the rushing wind in her face and she could hardly hear over the noise of the road, “W H A T?”

“Guys, I already told you, we’re gonna meet Lars by the beach. Wherever he’s living is most definitely too small for all of us to be there at once.”

“But I want to see what our captain looks like when he’s NOT a captain,” the other Rutile complained.

“Believe me, you don’t,” Sadie snorted, and Ronaldo tried to hold back a laugh.

Eventually, Sadie pulled into a parking space along the pier, and everyone piled out of the car. 

“Look! The pier has a roller coaster and carousel!”, the Rutiles cheered, “Just like the one back in Beach City! Do you think Lars is there?”

“I don’t know,” Sadie bit her lip, texting Lars to figure out where he was, “He might be somewhere around here.”

Before Ronaldo could speak up, he swore he could see a familiar green body rush by in the distance, but it was gone before he could even react. He figured it was nothing. Maybe his mind was just reminding him that he was going to effectively see Emily again, after almost a year. He couldn’t imagine how much she’d grown in this time...would she even remember him?

“Ok, Lars must have his cellphone off or something, my messages aren’t going through,” Sadie sighed, “Let’s walk by the pier and see if we can find him anywhere.”

“But that could take forever!”, Rhodonite complained.

“He’s a pink disaster, how hard could it be?” Sadie snorted.   
  
“Sadie, it’s a beach. Everyone’s cooked like a freakin’ lobster,” Ronaldo groaned, squinting his eyes and scanning the crowd around him for any trace of Lars.    
  
“Heh. True.”   
  
“We’re here!” Padparadscha cheered.    
  
After about half an hour of looking around, a gasp left Rhodonite’s mouth. “Wait! I think I see Emily!”   
  
“Are you sure it’s not that human child you stopped earlier?” asked one of the Rutiles.   
  
“In her defense, she was wearing a ridiculous amount of green,” the other cut in.    
  
“No, I think this might actually be her,” the fusion said enthusiastically, pointing to her left. “Look! In that line over there!”   
  
Ronaldo’s gaze, along with everyone else’s, focused to where Rhodonite was pointing to, which happened to be a small ice cream stand with a rather lengthy line. He focused his eyes until he could clearly make out what she was talking about. When he finally did, he swore he could feel his heart stop.   
  
It had to be Emily. There was no way any other small humans or any lifeforms that resembled them with green, spiky hair and fur around their neck would exist on Earth unless Emerald did whatever Steven’s mom did with some human, but that was the last thing Ronaldo wanted to think about right now (or ever). This was definitely his daughter. But if he didn’t know she was here, perhaps he would think otherwise.    
  
She’d grown so much. The last time he’d seen her, she could fit between the space on the pillows that him and Lars left between their faces at night, no bigger than a 6-month-old kitten. Now, she was at least a foot and a half tall. And she was walking on two legs! That was a huge achievement in any baby’s life!   
  
One that he’d missed….   
  
“Oh my gosh, you’re right,” Ronaldo said, trying to keep his voice cheerful but unable to hide how much seeing her like this actually kind of stung. “She’s so big now….”   
  
“But who’s she with?” Rhodonite piped up, squinting her eyes.   
  
“Oh, huh,” a Rutile commented.   
  
“That’s unusual.”   
  
“What do you mean?” Ronaldo asked, eyes scanning over to whoever her daughter was standing next to. It was a tall, slender person who had hair that probably reached down to their ass. They were decked out in tacky, baggy beach clothes, swim shorts, pink sandals, sunglasses and a really worn out straw hat. Though it was hard to make out every detail of the person’s appearance from a distance, they certainly didn’t look familiar.    
  
“Huh,” the new captain mused. “I don’t know….but that’s definitely Emily! Why is some stranger talking to Emily? Did….oh no!” Ronaldo felt panic rise in his chest. “Did Lars give her up to someone? Why would he do that? He wouldn’t do that, right!? I mean, even if he did, we should go talk to her and see if-”   
  
“Everyone, I’ve been bestowed with a marvelous vision!” Padparadscha suddenly exclaimed, grabbing Rhodonite’s hands in anticipation. “We will find our old captain and friend, Lars, along with his beloved Emerald daughter, Emily! They’re in line for…..iced cream? What is that? It sounds interesting! I say we get some.”   
  
The reality of what the Sapphire had told him didn’t even have time to settle in properly before the tall person next to Emily turned around to where their face was revealed to everyone as their sunglasses dipped below their eyeline. As soon as Ronaldo saw their stretched ears, rosy complexion and magenta eyes, there was no mistaking who it was.   
  
“ _ Oh my god. _ ”

Before Sadie could say anything, or suggest to the crew that they make a plan before approaching, Rhodonite screeched in delight, “CAPTAIN LARS!!”, and suddenly all the gems were charging towards the unsuspecting crowd of humans. A few people screamed.

Lars looked up, and hardly had a second to react before he was dogpiled in a group embrace by his crew, knocking his hat and sunglasses to the ground.

“R-rhodonite?! Twins? Fluorite! Padparadscha?! What- what are you guys doing here?”, Lars exclaimed, both confused and excited.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you!!”, Rhodonite suddenly cried, “It was a nightmare!”

“I  knew  we’d find  you safe and  sound. I had no  doubt in my mind,” Fluorite smiled as she approached and pet Lars’ hair affectionately.

“What happened to your clothes?!”, the Rutiles asked, “Your hair?!”

“I SEE LARS. HE’S OVER THERE,” Padparadscha cheered in delight, hugging her captain’s legs.

“H-Hi guys!”, Lars laughed awkwardly, “It’s really been a while hasn’t it!”

“We drove all the way across this country to find you!”, Rhodonite almost wailed, “Some of these places were scarier than space!”

“I-I don’t doubt it,” Lars cracked a tiny grin, and reached down to pet Emily’s hair when he sensed she was unnerved by the sudden attention, “Aww Emily, you remember your aunties, don’tcha?”

Emily peeked up again to take another glance at all the other gems, and let out a soft, “Oh,” then quickly tucked her head back against her father’s legs.

“So did you guys come alone or-”

“Hey Lars!”, Sadie laughed awkwardly as she walked over, “Sorry- they….really missed you.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” he breathed, running a hand through his hair.

“You need a haircut,” she snickered.

“Don’t remind me,” he laughed, “So did everyone come or-”

“The Zircons wanted to stay at the lighthouse with Topaz and catsit Halo Halo,” Rhodonite explained.

“Everyone knows they just wanted alone time to themselves,” one of the Rutiles whispered to her twin with a snicker.

Lars smiled in understanding, then looked around, frowning as he tried to find another face, “....is...this everyone?”

“Yeah!”, Sadie grinned, “We all wanted to come find you.”

Lars continued to look around, then frowned, “Oh.”

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

Lars stared in disappointment at the ground, “I guess I should have figured Ronaldo wouldn’t come.”

“What? Of course he did!”, Sadie assured, “He’s right-”

She turned her head to where Ronaldo had been standing back towards the entrance of the pier, and suddenly saw he’d disappeared.

She looked in vain to see if he’d walked off somewhere, and sighed in exasperation, “He was here a second ago. I don’t know where he went.”

“Oh. Okay,” Lars sighed, “Are you guys gonna be in town for a while?”

“We’ll be here as long as you want us,” Sadie winked, trying to be reassuring.

“Great,” he gave a weak smile, then sighed, “Is it okay if Emily and I leave for a bit? I don’t really feel like much visiting and stuff today...sorry.”

“O-oh…”, Sadie looked at the gems, who exchanged worried glances, “O-okay. Yeah! We can hang out tomorrow and stuff.”

“Yeah,” Lars spoke, voice dry.

“Dad, ice cream,” Emily whined.

“Sorry, Kiwi,” he sighed, picking her up, “I don’t really feel like it anymore. Besides, it looks like it’s gonna rain soon” and without another word, he carried her up and off the pier, and out of sight of his newly-reunited friends.

 

_ You can go your own way _

_ Go your own way _

_ You can call it _

_ Another lonely day _

  
  
  
  



	41. It Never Rains in  Southern California

_ Out of work, I'm out of my head _

_ Out of self respect, I'm out of bread _

_ I'm underloved, I'm underfed, I want to go home _

 

“And now, the crew is back to see us. I mean, I don’t know if they were a later addition or if Sadie planned to bring them, but it doesn’t matter. I love the crew. It’s just….I can’t help but be reminded of everything with them around. Especially without Ronaldo here, but I guess I shouldn’t have expected him to come.” Lars sighed, looking down at his daughter who he had been rambling to for the past fifteen minutes. “Do you remember them all now?”   
  
However, Emily seemed much too distracted with a tattered stuffed bear they’d purchased a few states ago. It was already missing an arm and judging by the way she was chewing it, would probably be missing its head in a matter of minutes.   
  
“You….didn’t hear me, huh?” Lars couldn’t help but chuckle, although he didn’t feel much like smiling no matter how cute the little gem was being.    
  
He walked over to the bed he’d slept in the night before and basically slammed his body into the mattress, running his hands down his face as he glanced up at the room’s pale green ceiling. It seemed like such a long time since Ronaldo had last crossed his mind, but he knew that probably wasn’t true. Then again, it was kind of hard to forget about him no matter how hard he tried by distracting himself with traveling. Sure, he might not be focusing on him as much as he had been, but the thought of the man who had once been such a positive force in his life refused to leave entirely.   
  
Lars mentally cursed himself for how he’d acted at the beach. Sadie and the Off Colors had come all this way to catch up with him, and all he could do was get sad about his presumably failed relationship! He didn’t even know why he was expecting to see Ronaldo. What would he have even done if he did show up? Did he want to talk things out with him and return to his old life? Things weren’t so bad on the road. Traveling Earth provided a cathartic alternative to traveling space, but still, part of him missed his old life as a space pirate captain so much. However, knowing that everything wouldn’t easily go back to how it was before kept him away.   
  
But now, he at least knew one thing: Ronaldo didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. There was no way he’d turn down the opportunity to see him if he really did miss him. This made it even more frustrating that even with this information, it was still so hard for Lars to forget the times they had together.    
  
He really thought it was going to work. Sure, he’d had his fair shares of failed relationships in the past, such as his one with Sadie, but this always felt different. It was almost as if they completed one another in a way, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, being without Ronaldo still felt like a huge part of him was missing. But he supposed he’d just have to get used to that.   
  
Tears beginning to sting at his eyes, Lars found himself looking down at the ring on his finger. He had no idea why he hadn’t taken it off by now. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to disappoint Bismuth, knowing she probably worked super hard on them. Or maybe he really did think Ronaldo would walk right back into his life. It at least would have been nice.    
  
Well, he knew now that it wasn’t needed. Gritting his teeth, shutting his eyes and trying his hardest not to let Emily see him cry, he placed the thumb and middle finger of his left hand on the ring and slowly started to tug upward, repeating to himself that he had to do it, there was no way they’d get married now, Ronaldo didn’t want anything to do with him, they were living their lives separately from each other now, he’d never see him again,  _ Ronnie is gone….. _ __   
  
Before he’d successfully removed the ring from his finger, a knock alerted him, and he stopped trying to pry it off to turn his attention toward the door.

It took Lars a second to get all the locks on the motel door unlatched, but when he swung the door open, wondering if it was housekeeping, or even Sadie coming to check on him, he certainly didn’t expect what stood there instead.

Ronaldo must have known that he would be the one opening the door, but even so, he looked surprised to see Lars. A crumpled piece of paper was in his hand, the motel address on it, and his free hand awkwardly pulling at the hem of his shirt.

“Ronaldo.”  Lars’ voice was distant and unreadable. His hand flexed unconsciously, as if to confirm the ring was still on tight. 

“Lars.”

That’s all that was said for several long, uncomfortable seconds, with the two of them staring at each other’s face, as if to take note of any changes since they’d last seen each other.

“Did you have any trouble finding the hotel?”, Lars suddenly asked, voice quiet, “I did give Sadie the address.”

“Not really,” Ronaldo admitted, voice stiff, “It wasn’t that far of a drive away from the pier.”

“Mm,” Lars nodded, “...I was wondering if you’d come with them. I didn’t see you at the pier so I just-”

“Yeah. I know,” Ronaldo cut in.

The two stared at each other until Lars broke the gaze by looking at his feet, “Well...do you want to come in?”

“...Okay.”

They sat on the edge of the single bed, a decent space between the two, and staring at the wall. Ronaldo awkwardly stirred at the cheap motel room coffee Lars had poured for him, and sighed, “Well...I guess you’re really wondering why I’m here.”

“Yeah,” Lars admitted, “I kinda...hoped I’d see you with everyone else.”

“I wanted to but-”, Ronaldo sighed, “It seemed too much too soon. Sorry.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Ronaldo had taken a moment to glance over at Lars’ hand, “You didn’t take your ring off?”

“No, of course not,” the traveler shook his head, curls wild, “I didn’t want to-”, he paused, trying to think of what to say, not wanting to assume this would end with them together, “I didn’t want to misplace it.”

“Yeah...same,” Ronaldo admitted, “...any other reason though?”

Lars tiredly pressed his eyes shut, “I don’t know. I don’t...really know exactly what to say.”

“...that’s fair,” Ronaldo sighed, “I...don’t really either. And I don’t really want this conversation to go somewhere that makes us both hurt.”

“I don’t want it to either. But we have to get this worked out somehow-”

“Says the guy who ran from his own crew.”

The hairs on Lars’ neck stood on end slightly at the hint of contempt in Ronaldo’s voice, and he drew in a deep sigh, “Well...okay. Yeah. But I felt like I had to. I felt like it was that, or I would have to live with you hurt and hating me forever.”

“I didn’t  _ hate _ you for what happened, I just-”, Ronaldo drew in a breath through his nose, “Okay, yes I was hurt because of what happened but...I guess I kind of overreacted and I guess I should have at least checked in with you after you left so we didn’t have to resort to this-”

“I should have just told you about therapy and everything,” Lars murmured, “Then there wouldn’t have been any of this.”

“Why didn’t you tell me anyway?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about me,” Lars spoke through his hands as he rubbed tiredly at his face, “I care too much about you to leave you sleepless over my problems.”

“That’s what husbands do though,” Ronaldo sighed.

“But they shouldn’t  _ have to _ if it just makes things worse for them.”

After a long silence, Lars sighed, “I don’t even know where things are at between us right now…”

“...that’s okay,” Ronaldo sighed, “I don’t either.”

Lars’ phone suddenly buzzed, spooking Emily into dropping it as she watched whatever pre-school cartoon Lars had put on it for her to watch while grownups talked.  Picking up the phone, Lars answered the call, “H’lo?”

“Hey, Lars, Sadie here. Sorry to bug you, because I know you kind of were tired and stuff, but the Off Colors really really want to take you and Emily to dinner at this outdoor restaurant.”

“It has palm trees all over its cups! And there’s cheese on the fries!”, the Rutiles could be heard in the background.

“Ah. Up-and-Back Burger I see,” Lars laughed tiredly, “Well uh...funny story, but Ronaldo just showed up outta nowhere at my room.”

“O-oh...is everything ok?”

“For now...I guess,” he sighed, “I mean, he could come too if he wants-”

“That’s a great idea!”, Sadie suddenly burst in, “We all come together, and have dinner and have a good time and everything works out! Yeah! Great!”

Glancing aside, Lars smiled halfheartedly, “Alright. See you guys at dinner then,” and hung up, “You hungry?”, he asked Ronaldo.

“Not really.”

“Well, I’m gonna go take Emily to get food with Sadie and the others...want to come?”   
  
Ronaldo thought for a moment before taking a deep breath. “Yeah. I guess.”   
  
“Okay….” Lars made his way back over to the bed, sitting down next to the other again. For a long moment, the two just sat there and stare at the floor, ceiling, walls, anything but each other.    
  
It was Ronaldo who finally broke the silence. “Awwww.”   
  
“What is it?” Lars asked, whipping his head around.   
  
“Look.” He looked to where the other’s finger was pointing, following it up he saw his daughter on the other bed. She’d absolutely crashed, her face buried in the pillows as her chest rose and fell with his steadied breaths. Occasionally, she’d kick her foot as if she was in some sort of deep dream.    
  
Lars couldn’t help but smile at the sight. “Heh. Looks like she’s tuckered out for a bit.”   
  
“How’s she been?”   
  
“Uh….good.” The former captain nervously bounced his legs. “Her first birthday was a few months ago.”   
  
“I know,” Ronaldo said. “I thought about it.” He looked down at his feet. “I wish I could’ve celebrated it with you two.”   
  
“Yeah?”   
  
“Yeah….”   
  
“Ah. We do too.”   
  
A surprised look made its way onto the other’s face. “Really?”   
  
Lars simply nodded. “Mhmmm.”   
  
“Oh….I figured she wouldn’t even remember me.”   
  
“I think she does? It’s kind of hard to tell.” The former captain sighed, eyes still focused on Emily. “She learned a few more words too. And grew, but you probably noticed that.”   
  
“I did.” The lighthearted smile soon fell from Ronaldo’s face. “Gee, I should’ve been there for that too….”   
  
“Yeah,” Lars replied. “You should have.”   
  
At first, Ronaldo almost replied defensively to the other’s comment, even if it wasn’t exactly said in the most accusatory tone. However, he realized that Lars was right. He should have been there and not just for Emily.    
  
He should have been there for Lars too.   
  
“Look,” Ronaldo began, clasping his hands together nervously, “I really am sorry about how I reacted to the therapy stuff. I should have-”   
  
“Ronaldo, stop trying to act like I’m innocent!” Lars spat back, turning to face him. “I accused you of wanting me dead, left you and the entire crew and took our daughter with me without a word to anyone. It’s my fault you missed all of this. I ruined both our lives-”   
  
“You didn’t ruin anything!”   
  
He hadn’t expected it to come out so loud. Wincing, he looked over to see if his sudden outburst had woke Emily. Luckily, although she was much larger now, she had kept her ability to sleep through almost anything. When he’d confirmed that, Ronaldo turned back to Lars but kept his voice down a bit.   
  
“Lars, stop acting like everything’s said and done. I came here to talk things out with you. Yeah, leaving was kind of shitty. So was saying I want you dead. But what I did wasn’t any better! I found out you tried to kill yourself and just….yelled at you over it instead of comforting you and making sure you were okay! I’m not gonna sit here and beat myself up, but that wasn’t what I should’ve done.”   
  
“Ronaldo, trust me, it’s-”   
  
“Don’t say it’s fine! It’s  _ not _ fine! That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.” Ronaldo made sure they were making direct eye contact as he continued. “We both really hurt each other, and we can’t just sit here and pretend like we didn’t. Right now, things between us aren’t okay.” He brought a hand up to wipe at his face, feeling tears threaten to leave his eyes. “But that’s why I’m here. I want to make everything okay again.”   
  
Lars’ eyes appeared to be getting a bit wet as well. “R-Ron-”   
  
“I’m so sorry, Lars. I shouldn’t have said those things to you, and from now on, I’m here to support you. I’d appreciate you telling me stuff that might affect me, but if there’s something you don’t feel comfortable with me knowing, I’ll understand. I promise.”    
  
The former captain was biting into his lip while listening to Ronaldo talk, and his voice wavered when it was his turn. “T-Thank you….I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have kept all that from you or left you or took Emily away and….I know you don’t want me dead.”   
  
“I certainly don’t. I very much like you as you are: alive. Well, kind of.”   
  
Lars couldn’t help but laugh at the other’s banter. “Hey, takes one to know one.”   
  
“Oh, hush.” A hearty laugh left Ronaldo’s throat, and he took Lars’ hands in his own, wondering to himself if this was real or one of the many scenarios he’d dreamt of constantly throughout the past year. “So….what are we?”   
  
“Well,” Lars giggled, sniffling back a few tears, “I’d say….I love you a lot….and if you’re still okay with it, I….want to be everything we were before this bullshit happened.”   
  
“Good,” Ronaldo sighed, eyelids lowering as he remembered just how stunning his fiance’s eyes were. “I do too.”   
  
“So….fiances?”    
  
“Only until we’re husbands."

* * *

When Sadie saw Lars, Ronaldo, and Emily approaching the outdoor table she and the gems were seated at, she nudged Lars’ arm gently, whispering, “Did everything go okay?”

Lars gave a tired but genuine smile, “Yeah. We’re good,” he assured, giving Ronaldo’s hand a squeeze as they sat down with everyone else.

Dinner ended up being an uplifting, cathartic experience, and not anywhere near as awkward or cagey as Sadie worried earlier. Lots of laughter and chatter filled the table, and everyone was relieved to see Lars and Ronaldo acting as close as they had a year earlier, playfully feeding each other a french fry, and watching Emily tear apart the burger wrappers.

Rhodonite initially didn’t think the drop of wetness on her nose was anything but condensation from her milkshake cup, but when she felt more on her face, then seeing them speckle the table, she yelped, “Oh no! Storming!”

“It’s just a little rain, it was forecast earlier,” Lars waved off, only to be interrupted by a far off rumble of thunder, and Sadie suggested they take their dinner to inside the restaurant.

They all had to cram in a much smaller table inside, but nobody complained. Especially not Lars or Ronaldo, who were happy to be squished together in one seat.

After about five minutes though, Lars yelped, “Oh man! I left my wallet outside!”, he jumped up from the table and scurried outside. 

“Wait, let me help you look for it!”, Ronaldo suddenly spoke up, and followed, looking almost a  _ little too eager _ , Sadie thought.

Ronaldo caught up to Lars on the edge of the restaurant parking lot, only a little bit amused to see his fiancee getting wet in the heavy, warm rain.

“I didn’t actually lose my wallet,” Lars smirked.

“Oh, I know,” he smirked right back, rain dripping off his nose.

After five minutes, Fluorite glanced out her nearest window to see rain running down it, and looked to her teammates, “Lars  and Ronaldo have been gone a long time. Do you think they found the wallet?”

“I’ll go check,” Sadie decided, and started walking for the front door only to see, through the glass, her two friends tight in an embrace, and absolutely ignorant to the fact they were getting soaked as they kissed passionately in the rain. She had to hold her tongue from making a swear leave it.

“Are they out there?”, the Rutiles asked,“Are they still looking for the wallet?”

“Yes!! Still looking!!!”, Sadie laughed awkwardly.

“Should we help?”, Rhodonite asked.

“No!”

“Oh! I have a vision that our captains will-”

“CONTINUE TO LOOK FOR THE WALLET? THANK YOU PADPARADSCHA!”, Sadie laughed a little too loudly, immediately changing the subject to keep the gems’ curiosity at bay, and knowing Lars and Ronaldo could give their own explanations for their wet clothes.

 

_ It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya? _

_ It pours, man, it pours... _


	42. It's Gonna Work Out Fine

_ Take a look at the way it's going now _

_ Makes you want to give a sigh of relief _

_ You know the last thing I ever _

_ Wanted to do _

_ Was to give you any grief _

 

Sadie wondered if requesting a single booth table was going to be enough to accommodate everyone, especially since several members in the party were larger than an average human. But sadly, it was too late for her to ask as she was nearly crushed against the window as Fluorite was sat on the same bench as her, Emily on Sadie’s lap, with the Rutiles, Padparadscha, and Rhodonite opposite from her. And Lars and Ronaldo hadn’t even shown up yet. 

Maybe IHOB (International House of Bees) wasn’t the best idea. Especially not on a crowded Sunday morning. 

Sadie struggled to give herself some room to raise her arm up to beckon Lars and Ronaldo over when she saw them enter, holding each other’s hand. They hurried over, greeting her and trying to grab empty chairs to sit at the edge of the booth.

Noticing the bags under Lars’ eyes, and the slight frizz in both of their hair, Sadie smiled, “Did you two have a fun night?”

“Yeah,” Lars smiled, resting his head on Ronaldo’s shoulder, “A really fun one.”

“Oh? What did you two do??”, the Rutiles spoke up, “Was there some sort of event we didn’t know about? Why weren’t we invited?”

Ronaldo struggled to come up with an answer that wouldn’t give away the intimate nature behind his and Lars’ activities (especially since Emily was present), and Sadie laughed awkwardly, “Y’know I bet it wasn’t half as fun as the night we had! We rented movies and had pizza in the middle of the night, and I even showed the girls how to order room service.”

“I predict Sadie will neglect to tell Lars and Ronaldo we almost lost Emily on a laundry cart-”

“What??”, Lars suddenly looked at Sadie and the Off Colors in utmost parental concern.

“Ride!”, Emily cheered, busy eating one of the complimentary crayons.

“It was an interesting night in the hotel,” Sadie laughed awkwardly.

“Lars, Ronaldo, was whatever you two did as fun as that?”, one of the Rutiles asked. 

“Uhhhh…sure,” Ronaldo grinned, sharing a knowing glance to Lars, who blushed a little.   
  
Chuckling a bit, Lars picked up the menu in front of him, surveying the different things he could order. Finally, he mentally decided on something, closing the menu and leaning back.   
  
“Know what you’re getting yet?” Sadie asked him, still looking over her menu.   
  
“I think I’m gonna go with a ham and cheese omelette,” he replied. “What about you, Ron?”   
  
“Oh, you know I’m getting the pancake that looks like a face.” He beamed as he spoke. “It’s truly the superior pancake.”   
  
Rolling his eyes playfully at his fiance’s antics, the captain turned to Emily. “I've eaten way too many pancakes on this trip. I need protein. And what about you, princess? See anything you like?”   
  
“Yeah!” she chirped happily, pointing to something in the bottom-right corner of the menu. “That!”   
  
Lars squinted, trying to make out what the little Emerald was pointing to and when he finally did, frowned in confusion. “Uh….Emily, that’s just a picture of the crayons that come with the coloring page you got.”   
  
“I know! I want more!” she demanded with a pout. That was when her dad noticed the yellow, blue and red smudges on her mouth and looked down to find that the crayons she’d been chewing on earlier had been reduced to nothing but wrappers.   
  
“Ummmmm….”   
  
“Is everyone ready?”   
  
The waiter’s voice alerted Lars, who simply turned to face him with a nervous smile. “Ehhhh, I think we need a moment.”   


Once breakfast was done (with minimal damage to the restaurant), and Lars had everything from his hotel room cleaned and put into his car, he quickly consulted with Sadie to make a plan for the drive home and where they would meet by the end of the day to reserve hotels. Having his own vehicle, he figured he’d save Sadie some elbow room in her own car by having Ronaldo and Emily ride with him. And it would give him plenty of company beyond a toddler with her chirpy nonsensical babbles.

“So...how long exactly were you out on the road like this? What kind of map did you use?”, Ronaldo asked.

“Oh I’ve been traveling for months,” Lars laughed softly, “It almost was like a vacation in every little state we went through. I spent almost a week in the Desert States and Texas, and the Keys? Two weeks. I took Emily to Didnsey World for two days and she loved it,” he cracked a grin, “I was uh...still kinda dying a little on the inside during that part of the trip but I was just happy to see her smile.”

“The mice were big!!!!”, Emily squeaked from her carseat in the back, chewing one of the foam toddler books Lars had given to her, “And fuzzy!”

“Aww, fun,” Ronaldo smiled, albeit a little sadly to hear Lars had been even the slightest bit miserable during his travels, “Well, maybe we can make some fun stops on this trip here too? We don’t have to make it so fast back to Delmarva.”

“I’d love that,” Lars grinned, “So long as my money allows it. I’ve been living on a budget here, and this rickety old camper might have some age on it, but it’s been running like a dream this whole-”

The engine suddenly sputtered, making the entire car shudder for five terrifying seconds as it sped along the freeway.

“Trip,” Lars finished, swallowing hard as he gave a nervous grin to Ronaldo, “Well...it has its quirks,” he admitted, “But it should at least get us to the next state and-”

“Honey, don’t jinx it,” Ronaldo sighed, and after looking out the window at all the traffic for several minutes, looked back with a smile at Emily, “Having fun back there, Em?”   
  
“Yeah!” the gemling chirped, voice muffled by the foam in her mouth.   
  
Before anyone else could get a word in, a loud ping sounded from the RV’s dashboard. Emily, taken off-guard, squeaked and covered her ears.    
  
“What’s that?” Ronaldo asked with a worried frown.   
  
“Gas,” Lars sighed, looking at the blinking lights in front of him. “I was gonna fill her up last night, but I guess we were too, uh….busy.” He chuckled. “Luckily, there’s a station not too far from here.”   
  
“Thank goodness.” The first mate sunk down in his seat, already sick of the loud pinging noise.    
  
When they finally pulled up to the gas station, Lars turned the key and hopped out of the RV. He stretched his back, groaning. “God, my back’s been killing me all day,” he grumbled.    
  
“Sorry,” Ronaldo meekly piped up, looking to the side in embarrassment.    
  
“Hey, I asked for it,” the captain giggled, heading for the gas pump. “You guys wanna go in?”   
  
“I don’t. I got plenty of snacks at that little store in the hotel lobby.” Ronaldo turned to Emily. “What about you, pumpkin?”   
  
The Emerald said nothing, continuing to gnaw on the book. The first mate was confused by her silence, but his fiance only cracked a small grin.   
  
“She’s easy to please,” he informed Ronaldo, who nodded in response.    
  
After a few minutes, the captain managed to fill up the tank. He jumped back into the driver’s seat, clapping his hands together in victory. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road!” he announced before turning the key into the ignition.    
  
But nothing happened.   
  
Confused at first, Lars turned the key a bit further. And even further. And then he took it out and tried it again. And again. And again. Still, nothing.

After three minutes of attempts to start the car, Lars sat back with an oddly calm smile, and drew in a breath through his nose. He then spoke with a pleasant voice, “Ronnie, sweetie, could you please take Emily out of the car with you for a few minutes...and close the doors?”

“U-uh...sure,” Ronaldo agreed, getting out and unbuckling Emily from her carseat and carrying her over to the curbside by the convenience store.

Immediately, he could see Lars throw a fit in his seat, lip-reading all the vulgar and creative swears he was screaming as he went ballistic. Ronaldo immediately felt obligated to cover Emily’s eyes as she stared in confusion at the car and her daddy’s funny dance inside it.

Ronaldo decided to carry Emily inside the store while Lars had a meltdown in the driver’s seat, figuring the air conditioning would keep them both satisfied until Lars had the spoons and calm to finally call AAA or a local mechanic. 

“Ronnie,” Emily suddenly chirped, “Can I have a coloring book?”, she pointed at the rack of magazines and travel books.

Ronaldo felt a slight twist in his chest to hear her call him that ,”Sure, sweetie. But uh, you know you don’t have to call me ‘Ronnie’. You can call me ‘daddy’ too if you want.”

“Oh,” Emily spoke, slightly confused, “Okay.”   
  
“Yeah….” He tried his best to crack a smile, bringing a hand down to ruffle the little Emerald’s hair. However, instead of giggling, she cringed a bit at the touch, causing him to lift his hand up and away. “Oh. Heh, sorry. I thought you liked that….hey! Why don’t you go find some snacks?”   
  
“But you’re not hungry?” she noted, clearly remembering what he’d said earlier.    
  
_ Smart kid. You can tell Lars raised her. _ _   
_ _   
_ “Not for me! For you,” he reassured. “And they’re all on me.”   
  
“B-But, I got snacks-”, she pointed at her bag of cheese snacks.   
  
“You’ll definitely want more! Trust me!”    
  
Before she could protest any more, he gently took her by the hand and began leading her down the aisles. As he did so, he named off some of the things he saw, hoping she’d at least want one of them.   
  
“Cupcakes?”   
  
“Nuh-uh!”   
  
“Cookies?”   
  
“Nuh-uh!”   
  
“Sour gummies?”   
  
“Nuh-uh!”   
  
“Slurpy?”   
  
“Nuh-uh!”   
  
“Pretzel?”   
  
“Nuh-uh!”   
  
“Okay….how about….I order us a giant pizza?”   
  
“......Nuh-uh!”   
  
Defeated, Ronaldo slouched against the freezer area. It was cold and a little wet, but that felt nice taking in account how hot it was outside and how heated with frustration and embarrassment he’d become. He began to wonder if she’d decline such an offer from Lars. How could a kid say no to a whole pizza?   
  
However, his thoughts were cut off when he heard a small gasp come from in front of him. Turning around and perking up, he saw Emily near the shelf that contained the pretzels and hot dogs, wide eyes staring intently at something there. A smirk growing on his face, he walked closer to her and leaned in.   
  
“Watcha lookin’ at, kiddo?” he asked.   
  
Emily pointed upward, and Ronaldo’s stare followed her fingers. In front of them was a large, silver espresso machine. The metal it was made of glistened underneath the light, giving it a quite shiny appearance. It was most definitely among the newer editions in the gas station.   
  
“Ohhhh….that.”    
  
“Ya!” the gemling squeaked. “Smell it!”   
  
The first mate sniffed the air around the machine, the familiar scent of coffee beans entering his nostrils. “Oh, yum,” he commented. “That does smell good!”   
  
Emily frowned and looked to the ground, shuffling her feet in disappointment. “I always want some, but daddy says no.”   
  
Ronaldo almost instantly responded to her forlorn state with a proud chuckle. “Well, he should’ve checked with your other daddy then!”   
  
The gemling looked at him, cocking her head to the side in confusion.   
  
“Oh, uh, I mean, I’ll get you a cup if you want.”   
  
Emily’s sad expression faded away into a jubilant excited one, and she jumped up and down in glee. “Really!?”   
  
“Of course! I’m always down for my awesome kid trying something new,” he said, beaming.    
  
“Tank you, Ronnie!” she chirped, hugging his leg and almost immediately looking up at him. “Sowwy. I mean daddy.”   
  
It wasn’t one-hundred percent the reaction he wanted, but he’d take it. Grinning from ear to ear, Ronaldo studied the cups next to the machine. “Okay, sweet pea, what size do you want?”   
  
“The biggerest one!”   
  
“That would be the mega large! Not one, not two, but  __ three whole steps up from an extra large,” Ronaldo stated proudly, puffing out his chest for a moment before reaching for the cup in question.   


If Ronaldo were not so concerned about his daughter re-connecting with him, he would probably have taken an extra three seconds to remember espresso contained caffeine and the amount Emily was asking for was large enough that not even Lars would ever drink that himself. But the smile on her face as he showed her the cup full of iced mocha was too cute for him to be logical.

Once he’d paid for the drink, he carefully handed it over.

“Okay, sweetie, now be sure to sip it slowly-”

She immediately swallowed the contents of the cup within five seconds, then looked up at him gratefully for a moment before she started fishing for ice in the cup.

“Alright that works too,” he sighed, and looked out the window, seeing Lars was now out of the car, and tiredly slouched against the gas pump as he talked over the phone to someone. His tantrum didn’t last that long, it seemed, but it probably was enough to tire him out.

Ronaldo was in the middle of playfully asking Emily if they should buy a coffee for Lars when he looked down and realized she wasn’t standing next to him anymore. Looking around the store, he saw the poor cashier staring in both awe and horror at the green toddler who was leaping through the aisles like a hungry tick, more than enough energy to burn as she bounced onto shelves, sending chips and snacks flying.

“Aah! Emily no!”, Ronaldo yelped, trying to chase after her and get her to stop her caffeine fueled spree.

Giggling shrilly, the gemling leaped off a shelf, and scampered at full speed into the cooler stuffed with bags of ice. Before Ronaldo could tell her to stop, she opened it, and jumped into the bags, sending them flying everywhere.

Lars was in a better mood as he hung up on the phone and walked inside the store, “Hey, Ronnie, the mechanic is gonna be here in about 15 minutes to get the car-”

His words stalled as he stared at the chaos in front of him, ice covering most of the floor, and piled in a massive spill from the cooler. Ronaldo and the cashier both stared at the mess in disbelief, and Emily was eagerly jumping on the ice, screeching in delight at her footprints.

Lars almost dropped his phone, looking at the ice, then at Emily, then at Ronaldo.

“Wh-what happened???”

“Okay, so this was all done with very good intentions-”

Lars eyed the cup in Ronaldo’s hand, and he frowned, “Did you give her that???”

“Well, yes but-”

Before Ronaldo could keep explaining, or Lars could scold him, Emily stopped in place, announced very suddenly that she was tired, and fell over for a very impromptu nap in the ice.

Ronaldo awkwardly glanced at her, then at a very unhappy Lars, and an even more unhappy cashier, “...You’re...probably thinking this is my fault, huh.”

Both of them nodded.   
  
It took the mechanic about 45 minutes to fix the camper once they’d arrived. The whole time was spent in silence, Lars holding a zonked Emily, and Ronaldo helping the clerk clean up the damage the little gem had caused. Even once they’d finally got on the road, the awkward silence continued. The first few minutes of the trip was filled with nothing but Emily’s squeaky snores and Ronaldo idly crunching on a granola bar he’d purchased from the gas station out of pity for the damage his daughter had caused.    
  
Finally growing tired of the tension, the first mate broke the silence. “So, uh….I guess I really messed up back there, huh?”   
  
“You guess?” Lars spat back, causing Ronaldo to cower a little. “You guess!?”   
  
“Okay, okay, I  _ know _ I really messed up back there.”   
  
“You gave a one-year-old a giant cup of espresso! Even my grown, magical body can’t handle that much caffeine!” He rubbed his temples and groaned. “I’m not gonna stay mad at you forever, but geez, Ron, what were you thinking!?”   
  
Ronaldo frowned. “Well….she really wanted some, and I wanted to give her something nice, y’know?”   
  
Lars glared at him. “You couldn’t just give her a bag of chips and call it a day?”    
  
“I could, but that wouldn’t be enough.” He sighed, putting his head in his hands and looking out the window. “Nothing I do is,” he muttered under his breath, not meaning for Lars to hear.   
  
Unfortunately, his fiance picked up on it. “What did you say?”   
  
Ronaldo lurched and faced Lars, frantically waving his hands. “N-Nothing! I just….it was….” He frowned, sighing again in defeat. “I feel really, really bad about missing so much of her life. She acts like she doesn’t remember me anymore! She won’t even call me dad. And she looks so different….she’s grown so much, she can walk, she can talk….” The first mate turned around to look at his daughter, sleeping soundly with a tattered stuffed animal in her arms. “I missed a big part of her life, and not even a huge cup of espresso is gonna make up for that.”   
  
Hearing what his fiance had to say made Lars’ heart twist in guilt. “Oh, Ronnie,” he said in a solemn tone, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t-”   
  
“Don’t blame yourself. Please.”   
  
There were a few seconds of silence after Ronaldo cut Lars off. The first mate went back to staring out the window, watching the scenery flash by before his eyes. Unable to stand the silence, Lars broke it, having reconsidered what he had to say.   
  
“Hey,” he spoke gently, glancing over to Ronaldo who looked to him at the sound of his voice. “Don’t worry about it. She’s only a year and a few months old.”   
  
“Huh?”   
  
“Emily’s still young, Ronnie. You’ve got time to be there for her. Sure, you missed a few months of her life, but there are plenty more where that came from!” He chuckled, smiling. “Plus, she’ll be calling you dad again before you know it. It’s only like, what, the second day you’ve been back?”   
  
Hearing his fiance’s words comforted Ronaldo greatly, and he felt a warm grin stretch onto his face for a moment. However, it soon faltered. “I guess. I’m still scared of messing up, though. I don’t want her to hate me.”   
  
“Hate you!?” Lars sputtered in confusion. “Ronnie, why would she hate you? Sure, she might not remember you, but her first new memories of you are going to be you making her daddy happier than he’s been in months and buying her a giant cup of espresso! If anything, I might have competition.”   
  
“Oh, please,” Ronaldo laughed modestly. “She probably wouldn’t even like a real life giant fluffy rainbow unicorn more than you.”   
  
The captain snickered. “You’re right, actually. She’s scared of horses.”   
  
“Ah.” The smile returned to Ronaldo’s lips. “Well, that’s one more thing I know about her.”   
  
“And you’re gonna learn a lot more,” Lars reassured him, reaching a hand out to squeeze his fiance’s. “You’re a great dad, Ronnie.”   
  
Squeezing back, Ronaldo sank back in his chair in relief, glad to hear the familiar crackle of cassette tapes in the van’s set-up.  He leafed through the collection of tapes in the glove compartment, spending the next several hours on the road recollecting which ones were his favorites back on the ship, and how nice it would be to have music in space again.

As the purple-orange glow of dusk settled in the sky, Lars pulled into the motel they’d agreed to meet Sadie at, and he was greeted by a smug look from the blonde as she approached the car.

“What happened, did you ‘take a detour’ again?”

“Nah, my engine shat itself on me and we had to get a mechanic to fix it. How long have you guys been here?”

“Three hours,” Sadie waved off, “The Off Colors are busy playing with the ice machine.”

“Oh boy,” Lars snickered, “Don’t let me spoil their fun. I’m gonna check in,” he waved off, heading inside to the concierge. 

Ronaldo glanced into the back seat to see Emily waking up from her seven hour caffiene crash, and smiled, “Hey, sweetie! Did you have a nice nap?”

Yawning and smacking her lips, the gemling nodded, and sleepily mumbled, “Can I have more coffee?”

“Ahh….no,” Ronaldo glanced away awkwardly, “Sorry.”

When Lars headed out to the car to grab suitcases and get Emily out of her carseat, he grinned, “Good news, we get a poolside view.”

“Pool!”, Emily chirped, her energy sparking back almost immediately, and began to fitfully wiggle, wanting to get to the pool in that instant.

“Give us a bit, Kiwi,” Lars chided, “We have to get our stuff in the room.”

Emily continued to whine and chirp incessantly for the pool as her father carried luggage in, and collapsed on the bed. She tugged at his hair and shirt, urging him to take her out to the pool that was just calling her name outside the window.

“Emilyyyyy, I’m tired,” Lars groaned, “Give me a bit to rest okay? I’ve been driving for the last several hours and I need to-”

“I can take her out to the pool!”, Ronaldo offered, “I could use a dip.”

“Would you?”, Lars requested thankfully, “I’ll join you guys eventually.”

“Take your time!”, Ronaldo insisted, quickly changing into swimming trunks from his suitcase in the bathroom as Emily cheered and bounced on the bed, already in her little swimsuit.

The pool, now that it was a reality, wasn’t really as clear and sparkling as one might have hoped (also there was definitely dead locusts in it), but after riding in a hot car all day, it was incredibly refreshing for Ronaldo. He floated leisurely on his back as he stared at the night sky, trying to get a glimpse of stars, even with all the smog.

Emily splashed about happily as she floated along on top of the inflatable donut, spinning on it as it lazily cruised around the pool. When it finally passed Ronaldo, she couldn’t help but splash him as much as possible, causing him to jolt up, and roll face first into the water with a splash. 

Face all wet, Ronaldo decided to teach Emily the lesson of retaliation, and playfully splashed back, resulting in a splash war full of squeaking and shrill giggles from the gemling.

Lars smiled as he stepped out into the pool area a half hour later, towel over his shoulder, “Having fun?”, he called out.

“Yeah!”, Emily chirped.

“Come on in, the water is cold!”, Ronaldo invited.

“Mm, gimme a bit,” Lars waved off, trying to decide on a pool chair to lounge in. 

Ronaldo and Emily both sighed. In their experience with pools and beaches and anything water, if Lars was picking out a chair to sit in, it usually meant he wasn’t going to even touch the water before he zonked out for a nap. This needed to be rectified quickly.

Lars was decided on a chair pretty shortly, smiling to himself as he draped the towel over it. But before he could lay down in it, he suddenly felt something grab him by the legs and pull him back, sending him flying backwards into the pool with a screech.   
  
Thinking he’d successfully flung his fiance into the pool, Ronaldo emerged from the water wearing a proud smirk. “Ha! That’ll teach you to-wh-what!?”    
  
The first mate’s eyes wandered upward as he took in the sight of Lars standing on top of the water like it was nothing with a smug look on his face. His jaw dropped, and he rubbed his eyes in bewilderment to make sure what he was seeing wasn’t a trick of the mind.    
  
“Wh….you’re…..”   
  
“Yep.”   
  
“I….you….WE CAN DO THAT!?”   
  
Lars’ expression suddenly changed. “Wait, you didn’t know?”   
  
“NO???”   
  
“Ohhhhhh….huh. Could’ve sworn I said something.” The captain laughed nervously. “Sorry.”   
  
Ronaldo’s expression suddenly changed from bewildered to quite annoyed. “Wait, so we can literally  _ walk on freakin’ WATER  _ and you didn’t tell me!?”   
  
Lars rubbed his arm anxiously. “If we were around water more, I probably would’ve remembered to say something. I have a bad memory.”   
  
“We live on a beach.”   
  
“No, technically, we live in a spaceship but visit a beach frequently-”   
  
“Whatever, whatever.” Ronaldo continued to look Lars up and down, scratching his chin. “So like….how do you swim?”   
  
“I can’t really explain that,” the captain said with a shrug. “Steven doesn’t even know much about it either. The only one who does is Lion probably, and he can’t exactly tell me. I think it’s controlled with your mind somehow?”   
  
“How?”   
  
“I dunno. The water is more like….really thin ice? If something pushed me right now, I’d probably lose balance and get my mind all cluttered up, which would cause me to fall into the water.” He snickered. “It’s a miracle I got my footing after you pushed me in!”   
  
“Huh.” Ronaldo cocked his head to the side. “Like what?”   
  
However, before Lars could open his mouth, a tiny green head popped out behind him, smirking deviously.   
  
“I’MMA PAWANNAH! RAR!!!”   
  
“Ahhhh!” Lars squeaked in shock as the gemling’s teeth sunk into his leg, toppling over backward and losing his footing which as he’d explained, caused him to plummet into the water with a loud splash. Emily’s top half popped out from behind him, and she looked very proud to have just caused her dad to take a tumble by nibbling on him. Her smile was contagious and caused Ronaldo to laugh as well.   
  
Finally, the soaked captain emerged, wet hair drooping in front of his face and making him look like some sort of pink moss monster more than a human. He brought his hands up to part his hair, revealing his exasperated face. “Like that.”

By the time the night grew late, at least half the pool was gone as a result of the splashing and water fights instigated by the three. Emily had voiced displeasure at having to leave the pool, in spite of her frequent yawns, and how she was fighting to keep her eyes open as Lars washed the chlorine off her in the shower. 

By the time everyone was dry and in pajamas of some sort, it was almost too late to order anything for dinner. Lars opted to use the last ten dollars in his wallet (until his next ATM visit) to use the cheap vending machine in the hall. Microwave popcorn, Hot Pockets, and a ice-solid creamsicle would have to tide them over until breakfast the next morning.

After some mindless TV on the outdated motel television, Lars’ mind was pretty fuzzy and in need of sleep. He felt so grateful that he didn’t have to sleep in an empty bed anymore, and the feeling of arms around him, under the blankets, felt greater than anything else in the world.

Before he or Ronaldo could drift off to sleep however, they felt tiny limbs worm between them, and in the darkness, they could see Emily plastered between both of their chests, closer to Ronaldo’s and snuggled in slumber.

Before Lars could comment on how cute it was, he heard Ronaldo sniffling, and he looked up, “Are you crying??”

“S-she’s just so cute ok?!”

Giggling tiredly, Lars kissed his cheek, “So are you.”

That was something neither of them could argue.

 

_ Ain't it funny how it took a reunion _

_ To help us to really see _

_ With each other is the only way we can ever be _ __   
  
  
  
  


 

  
  


  
  



	43. What is Life?

_ What I feel, I can't say _

_ But my love is there for you, any time of day _

 

“Mom, what did I say about calling me more than twice a day?” Lars sighed into the screen as he was met with his mother’s eager expression.

“I know, honey, but I just remembered something else you’d want to put on your registry.”

“Ok...what is it?”

Martha paused, then cursed under her breath, “I can’t remember it. I’ll call you back,” she assured.

“Mom, how about you wait until tomo-” Lars was cut off as his mom hung up. He groaned, rubbing at his face. He was starting to regret hooking his parents up to the gem tech that allowed for screen calls to his ship.

Ever since he and Ronaldo set a date for their wedding, October 31st, things had definitely been more than a little hectic. It was three months away, invitations had been sent out four months earlier, and even with parental assistance and guidance...planning a wedding while traveling out in space was definitely a little stressful for Lars.

He didn’t know how Ronaldo could manage to keep so calm about all of this, scheduling fittings, tastings, venue inspections, while also worrying about keeping themselves alive in space on their trips. If anything, Lars had expected Ronaldo to be the one freaking out over all of this. But nope, he was cool as cucumber, and Lars was ready to puke in his cape.

“Twins, how’s fuel looking?”

“Good, captain!”

“Great,” he breathed in relief, deciding he could relax for just a short while as they cruised through space.

Lars could feel his stomachache coming back again when Emerald called him for the fifth time in a week to hassle him, and brag about whatever new, probably fake, weapons she’d equipped for her ship.

“-and with this new temperature of plasma bolts, I can melt holes in your ship like butter! You won’t see it coming,” she prattled, cackling with delight, “And I’ll have you in my sights in the next thirty minutes-”

“Mmmhmmmm. You know if you kill us you can’t actually go to Ron’s and my wedding, right?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Emerald snarled, “The only reason we’re going is because Bloodstone has never seen a wedding and I’d like to see what on earth the fuss is all about.”

“Also cake!!”, Mal could be heard shouting from offscreen.

“That too,” Emerald rolled her eyes.

“And yet you still tell me how you’re planning to kill me every week,” Lars snickered with a bit of exhaustion.

“It’s status quo,” Emerald waved off, “Ever since we lifted the truce, I’ve been taking advantage of this as much as I-”

Emerald’s call was suddenly cut off by another call. Martha’s face popped up on the screen, “I remember now! Pasta strainer!!!”

Lars sank in his chair further with a groan. He was pretty sure immortality didn’t protect him from ulcers.

“Dad?”, a small voice popped up from behind Lars, with a tug at his cape, “I heard cake?”

“...noooo sweetie,” Lars sighed, “No cake.”

“Oh,” Emily pouted in utmost disappointment.

“Excuse me!!”, Emerald suddenly snapped as she reconnected, “That was rude! I don’t interrupt your calls!”, she screeched at Martha’s connection.

“Yes you do!”, Martha argued back, “You interrupted my skype call with my sister!”

“On accident,” Emerald insisted.

As his mother, and worst enemy argued, and Emily pouted at his feet, Lars was debating on muting the call and having Ronaldo take over the screens for the day. He needed a calm hand for this job, and if things stayed like this, it wasn’t going to be his hand.

As he got up, and walked to the kitchen area to fix himself some coffee, Emily followed, toddling on her feet, “Dad, can we make cake?”

“I’d love that but I’m really tired Kiwi,” Lars sighed, grabbing for his mug, “Maybe later, okay?”

“Can I talk to gramma and the angry lady?”, she pointed to the screen where both callers were arguing with each other.

“Mmmmm….no,” Lars decided, switching the screen off. He could only handle so much noise.

“Dad, can I have some coffee too?”

“No.”

“Dad, can I wear your shoes?”

“No.”

“Dad can I-”

“No.”

“...I just wan’ed to ask a question,” the toddler gem pouted.

“Oh...sorry,” Lars sighed, “I’m tired. Go ahead and ask.”

“Where do babies come from?”

The captain didn’t answer, and instead made a frantic effort to find any sort of antacid on the whole forsaken ship.

Ronaldo, in spite of Lars’ perceptions, had his own worries about their upcoming wedding too.

He thought it would be easier with his fiancee’s parents helping, but it wouldn’t resolve the worries for things like learning to dance, remembering his vows, and just...getting married.

For some reason, maybe it was all the overly cliche movies he sat through, but the very slightest chance that one of them would get cold feet and leave one of them standing at the altar was a very big fear in Ronaldo’s mind right now. 

They’d just reconciled over their rift months prior, and after so much planning for what would be the biggest day of their life, the anticipation made Ronaldo sit in fear instead of excitement.

Not that he had told Lars yet though. He was busy with the crew. It wasn’t the right time for it.

But neither was the day right before they would get married either.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a press against his hair, and looked up to see Lars pressing his forehead on him with a playfully tired smile, “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself,” Ronaldo smiled back, letting his fingers mindlessly leaf through the various documents and papers they’d made copies of ahead of time, complete with their actual marriage licenses, “What’s going on with the crew out there?”

“Nothing that they can’t handle without me,” Lars stretched his back as he plopped onto the seat beside his fiancee, “Whatcha doin?”

“Oh...just looking at all the boring papers that come with weddings...the marriage stuff, y’know?”

“Oh yeah. The scary part,” Lars snorted with a gentle tease.

“Yeah….the scary part,” Ronaldo repeated with a gulp.

“Y’ok?”

“I’m fine,” he assured, “Just a little overwhelmed.”

“Yeah, I believe it,” Lars smiled, nudging him playfully, “By the way do you have any antacid?”

“I don’t think so, sorry. Why ask?”

“No reason.”

Suddenly, he was interrupted by the sound of incoming messages on the screen in the galley, followed by his mother piping up over the speaker to say something, only to be interrupted by Emerald’s joined call, resulting in more squabbling that could be heard throughout the ship. Rhodonite could be heard asking where the captain was, and Emily whining that she was hungry.

Lars gave a shit-eating grin at Ronaldo, “No...reason...at...all…”

“Woof- honey I’m sorry, that’s enough to give  _ me _ an upset stomach.”

“Y’know at this point, I’m willing to take the shuttle back to earth just to stop at Walgreens, get some maalox tablets and call it good,” Lars joked softly.

“I’m worried if you did, you might not come back,” Ronaldo suddenly spoke up, trying to make it sound like a joke, but it came out quite shaky and nervous.

Lars sensed the unease in his lover’s voice, and rest a hand on top of Ronaldo’s very gently, “...is something buggin’ you?”

Ronaldo was about to say no, and hope it would ease Lars’ visible concern. But that wasn’t going to make his own worries go away. Sighing, he squeezed the other’s hand, “I think I’m actually  _ scared _ of getting married,” he admitted, “Well not getting married, but  _ waiting _ to get married you know? We’re planning all of this stuff, which is basically gonna mark the beginning of our lives together, and I guess I-”

Lars’ thumb was gently rubbing against his hand, “Do you wanna postpone or-”

“No, not at all!”, Ronaldo assured, surprised Lars didn’t seem upset at the idea, “I just guess waiting for it makes it even more nerve wracking…”, he admitted, “Because yeah the wedding part of it is like a big fun party, but the whole other thing is a huge commitment, and I think I’ll get my own share of ulcers thinking over it for this many months...but it’s not like we can _move up_ _a wedding_.”

Lars was listening intently, and a stroke of genius seemed to flicker in his eyes. He gently tapped his hand over Ronaldo’s mouth, “Honey I have an idea, but if you don’t want to do it, we don’t have to. But I think it will help all the wedding planning be a lot easier on the both of us.”

“What is it?”

Lars whispered it into his ear, and a look of sheer delight crept over Ronaldo’s face, making him cheery enough to pull his fiancee into an excitable kiss.

As they headed towards the docking bay of the ship, Lars told the gems to watch Emily and keep the ship in one piece as he and Ronaldo stepped on the elevator platform.

“Where are you going?”, Blue Moon asked as she was holding the fussy toddler gem in her arms.

“Walgreens,” Lars winked at Ronaldo as they disappeared down below.

* * *

“Laramie, I don’t want to get angry, and I will try to listen to you with utmost understanding,” Martha began, taking a deep breath, “But I really have to ask...what the  _ hell _ are you doing in AUSTRALIA????”

“That, mother dear, is none of your business,” Lars smiled smugly as he spoke in the phone cuddled up under a blanket with Ronaldo as they watched fireworks in the night sky on the waterfront outside the Sydney Opera House.

“Your crew had to track your ship for me. Walgreens, my ass,” Martha huffed, “I spend every day this month trying to help organize your wedding and you go off and unravel all my hard work-”

“Mom, relax, we’re still having the ceremony,” Lars assured as he leaned against Ronaldo, “But the whole marriage anticipation stress was getting to the both of us. So this makes everyone happy.”

“Not me!!”, she whined, “What’s the point of you having a wedding if you’re already married now?”

“The ceremonial principle of it?”, Ronaldo suggested into the phone, “We just got the legal part taken care of.”

“After all, this was still a really nice alternate, ma,” Lars assured, “We both really like Australia, same sex marriage is legal here, and now we don’t have to worry about cold feet!”

Martha rubbed the bridge of her nose, and sighed, “Alright. Okay. I understand. I’m happy for you two,” she spoke, still sounding less than pleased, “Just next time you really have to elope, tell me?”

“Alright, fine,” Lars laughed softly, “Well...we’re gonna get back to the fireworks.”

“The literal or figurative?”, Martha asked dryly.

“...Both,” Lars grinned, hanging up, and looking up at Ronaldo with a soft grin. They’d only been officially husbands for two hours and he was still starstruck by it. The ceremony at the register office had been quick, but once it was all on paper, and words were exchanged, and the clerk congratulated them, it almost seemed unreal.

“Feeling better?”, he smiled at Ronaldo.

“Much,” Ronaldo kissed the top of his head as they sat on the bench under a blanket, “Now I don’t have to worry about getting stress ulcers at our actual wedding.”

“Me either,” Lars laughed, “Now all I have to worry about is if I can talk loud enough for my half deaf Lola to hear me, and if the cake is gonna taste good.”

“And I just have to worry about my dad telling embarrassing stories about me at the wedding,” Ronaldo grinned.

“Aww, but I had that on the itinerary as a must-have!”, Lars teased, gently nudging his belly, and leaned against his shoulder, “So...should we head back to the ship, or get a hotel and spend one night here at least?”

“It’s our marriage night,” Ronaldo smiled, resting his cheek against Lars’ soft pink hair, “We can do whatever we want.”

“Is that going to be our motto for the rest of our lives and beyond?”, Lars smiled, “Because I could get used to that.”

“You bet.”

 

_ Tell me, what is my life without your love _

_ Tell me, who am I without you, by my side? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, Barracuda here. Tanzanite and I had written these chapters months previously, but we've been neglecting to edit or upload them up until now. Aaaand partially it's because neither of us are really into SU anymore. We've both moved on to a different fandom for writing material though, and we're still eager to work together on projects, but alas this is the end of Starships! We thank you so much for reading it, and following along with us.


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